Green technology progress and total factor productivity of resource-based enterprises: A perspective of technical compensation of environmental regulation

Abstract

• Green technology progress promotes the total factor productivity of enterprises. • Environmental regulation promotes the green technology progress of enterprises. • The improvement of unit labor productivity is an influencing mechanism. • The push of external pressure is an influencing mechanism. The implementation of Industry 4.0 has had an important impact on the value creation of the manufacturing industry, but there are few studies on its driving mechanisms and effect on total factor productivity. In this study, green technology progress is selected as an important representation of Industry 4.0, and samples of China's A-share resource-based enterprises from 2004 to 2018 are used to examine the relationship between environmental regulation, green technology progress, and total factor productivity to explore the role of social, environmental, and technological factors in manufacturing development. The findings show that green technology progress significantly promotes the total factor productivity of enterprises through the improvement of unit labor productivity and that environmental regulation “forces” the green technology progress of enterprises through external pressure. These conclusions remain valid after replacing the explained variables and measuring methods. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that when an enterprise has strong financial and human resource bases, the “forcing” effect of environmental regulation on green technology progress is more significant.