Beyond compliance: environmental regulation and corporate responsible innovation

As technological innovation increasingly generates social and environmental externalities, understanding how environmental regulation shapes corporate responsible innovation has become an important yet underexplored issue. Using panel data from Chinese A-share non-financial listed companies spanning 2011–2023, this study aims to empirically examine the impact of environmental regulation on corporate responsible innovation. The results show that environmental regulation significantly promotes corporate responsible innovation, suggesting that regulatory pressure functions not only as a compliance constraint but also as a driver of responsible innovation. Further analyses reveal that this relationship is mediated by corporate reputation, market power, and ESG performance, and green innovation quality and supply chain risk further strengthen this relationship. This study extends the literature on the institutional drivers of responsible innovation, provides valuable insights into how environmental governance can promote innovation that is ethically acceptable, socially desirable, and environmentally sustainable, and offers important implications for policymakers seeking to foster responsible innovation.