Policy orientation, knowledge dynamic ability and green innovation: A mediation model based on China provincial panel data

Abstract

Environmental supervision and government subsidy are important tools for government to promote green innovation. The influence of these two policy orientations on green innovation performance is spreading widely, but the specific indirect mechanism of policy orientation inducing green innovation needs further exploring. This paper introduces the knowledge-dynamic ability (knowledge production ability, knowledge acquisition ability, knowledge integration ability) into the analysis framework of enterprise green innovation, and studies the mediating effect of the knowledge-dynamic ability on policy orientation and green innovation. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2015, the empirical findings are as follows: Firstly, the knowledge-dynamic ability plays a remarkable mediating role in promoting between policy orientation and green innovation, which indicates that improving the knowledge-dynamic ability is a core mechanism of policy orientation to induce enterprise green innovation. Secondly, the knowledge-dynamic ability plays a complete mediating role in the relationship between environmental supervision and green innovation. Environmental supervision promotes green process innovation by enhancing knowledge acquisition ability and induces green product innovation by enhancing knowledge production ability. Thirdly, the knowledge-dynamic ability plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between government subsidy and green innovation. Government subsidy improves enterprise green process innovation by enhancing knowledge acquisition ability and knowledge integration ability, and induces enterprise green product innovation by enhancing knowledge production ability and knowledge integration ability.