Does state capitalism always lead corporate green technology innovation? Evidence from China

This study examines how corporate green innovation is influenced by ultimate controlling shareholders, which we categorize into three institutional types: central government, local government, and private entities. Using 29,926 firm-year observations of A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2023 and panel fixed-effects models with industry-year and province-year joint fixed effects, we find that central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) significantly outperform others in green innovation willingness, quantity, and quality, while local SOEs and private enterprises show no significant difference. Mechanism tests reveal that central state-owned enterprises’ green innovation advantage is driven by greater social responsibility, whereas local state-owned enterprises’ regulatory bargaining power dampens their green innovation. Further analysis shows that central SOEs and local SOEs exhibit a stronger emphasis on non-R&D environmental transformation activities than private enterprises, suggesting differentiated compliance strategies across ownership types. These findings extend the ownership-innovation literature by demonstrating that the ownership hierarchy established for general innovation does not necessarily hold in the context of corporate green innovation, and provide new insights into the mechanisms through which state capitalism shapes firms’ green innovation.