Journal
SUSTAINABILITY
Volume 11, Issue 21, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/su11216001
Keywords
environmental regulation; environmental commitment; sustainability exploration innovation; sustainability exploitation innovation; Porter Hypothesis; Chinese manufacturing firms
Funding
- Key Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [71673115, 71801113]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [JUSRP11760, JGLX19_108, 3072019CFJ0903]
- Fundamental Research Funds for Jiangsu Philosophy and social Science [2017SJB0815]
- Jiangsu Social Science Foundation [19GLC004]
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The links among firms' environmental regulation, innovation process, and sustainable development has been analyzed, but a research gap still remains in terms of environmental commitment and different types of sustainable innovation in firms' sustainability. Through collecting a dataset of 380 valid respondents from Chinese manufacturing firms, this paper incorporates evironmental regulation, environmental commitment, sustainability exploration innovation, sustainability exploitation innovation, environmental performance, and business performance into a multiple mediating effect model. Our key emperical findings are as follows: (1) Environmental regulation not only cannot affect environmental performance and business performance, but also cannot affect the two types of firm performance through sustainability exploration innovation or sustainability exploitation innovation; (2) The relationship between environmental regulation, environmental performance (or business performance) is subsequently mediated by both environmental commitment and sustainability exploitation innovation; (3) Environmental regulation does not affect environmental performance (or business performance) through environmental commitment and sustainability exploration innovation. These results do, however, support the Porter Hypothesis in terms of revealing a new multiple mediating effect path dominated by environmental commitment and sustainability exploitation innovation. Our findings can provide a better understanding of how environmental commitment and sustainability exploitation innovation play a key effect in helping firms relieve the pressure from environmental regulation, and thus improve their environmental management while keeping their competitive edge.
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