Research On The Impact Of Equity Incentive On Green Innovation

With the continuous growth of China’s carbon emissions and the proposal of double carbon targets,the dominant position of enterprises in green innovation has been continuously concerned.Enterprises are the implementation carrier of the national innovation-driven strategy.Stimulating the innovation enthusiasm of enterprises and improving the quantity and quality of R&D achievements can effectively improve the overall innovation level of China.Due to the positive externalities of technological innovation and the negative externalities of environmental pollution,as well as the common problems of agency conflict and short-sightedness of management under the modern enterprise system,the development of enterprise green innovation has been hindered to some extent.In the past,the discussion on the influencing factors of green innovation mainly focused on external policy factors,and seldom talked about the subjective initiative of enterprises in green innovation.As one of the measures to alleviate the agency conflict and the shortsightedness of management decision-making,equity incentive plays an increasingly important role in promoting the construction of internal incentive system in enterprises.Therefore,this paper starts from the internal factors of enterprises and considers the influence of equity incentives on green innovation from the perspective of equity incentives.This paper selects A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2021 as research samples,investigates the impact of corporate equity incentives on green innovation,and discusses the different roles of R&D investment in the relationship between equity incentives and green innovation for different incentive targets.The results show that:(1)the equity incentive is positively related to the green innovation of enterprises,which mainly comes from the equity incentive to the core technology business personnel;In contrast,the implementation of equity incentive for management will hinder green innovation to a certain extent,and the current incentive methods need to be reformed and improved.(2)R&D investment has played a partial mediating role in the impact of management equity incentives on green innovation,accounting for 39.7%of the total effect;R&D investment has a significant positive regulatory effect on the relationship between equity incentive and green innovation of core technology business personnel.(3)Compared with stock options,restricted stocks can better stimulate green innovation;Compared with the central and western regions,the equity incentive implemented by enterprises in the eastern region can promote the green innovation of enterprises more effectively.In this paper,the endogenous problem is considered,and the robustness is tested by replacing explanatory variables.Finally,this paper puts forward some suggestions according to the research conclusions:(1)Strengthen internal governance,promote the reform of equity incentive system,establish and improve the internal communication and cooperation mechanism,and enhance the green innovation consciousness of enterprises from the strategic level.(2)Increase the equity incentive for core technology business personnel,optimize the equity incentive structure of management,and flexibly adjust the equity incentive scheme in combination with the enterprise’s own situation,market competition environment,regional development and other factors.(3)Strengthen policy guidance,support and standardization,reduce the negative impact of positive externalities of technological development and negative externalities of environmental pollution on enterprise decision-making,and provide better green innovation environment and conditions for enterprises.Based on the perspective of incentive object,this paper combines equity incentive with green innovation,explores the dual role of R&D investment in it,and analyzes the heterogeneity of incentive mode and regional development,which provides useful reference for enterprises to improve their green innovation ability.