Environmental, social, and governance performance and enterprise sustainable green innovation: Evidence from China

Sustainable development is a common development model pursued by countries around the world. The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concept has garnered significant interest across industries globally. This study extends on existing research (Fang & Hu, 2023), from the perspective of innovation sustainability, and investigates the impact of ESG performance on enterprise sustainable green innovation (SGI). For the data of 1140 Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2009 to 2019, the estimated result shows that the coefficient of ESG performance is 0.6640 (p < 0.05). This means that ESG advantages significantly promote enterprise SGI. And the environmental dimension performance has a bigger promoting effect. The impact of ESG on SGI is significantly positive for growth and maturity stages, state-owned, and non-heavy pollution industry enterprises. Green investor and environmental subsidy are important ways for ESG performance to affect SGI. In addition, the executive environmental protection experience moderates the relationship between ESG performance and SGI in a significant and beneficial way. This study proposes that government agencies should implement differentiated ESG regulation measures and enterprises can increase their reliance on stakeholders and social resources to acquire additional resources. Theoretical and practical implications of this contribute to the enhancement of enterprise SGI.