Executives’ Environmental Awareness and Corporate Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from Textual Analysis

In the context of sustainable development, enhancing corporate green technology innovation has become a critical research issue. This study constructs a novel metric of executives’ environmental awareness using textual analysis and empirically examines its impact and underlying mechanisms on green technology innovation. The findings reveal that executives’ environmental awareness significantly and positively influences corporate green technology innovation. Mechanism tests indicate that this effect is mediated by increased corporate innovation investment and a higher proportion of RandD personnel. Furthermore, environmental regulation plays a positive moderating role, strengthening the relationship between executives’ environmental perceptions and green technology innovation. These findings contribute to the literature on executive traits and corporate innovation behavior by providing new theoretical insights, while also offering practical implications for policymakers seeking to design effective environmental protection and innovation incentive policies.