The Impact Of Green Technology Innovation On The Financial Performance Of Manufacturing Firms

In recent times,the global economy has experienced rapid growth,but at the same time,environmental pollution has become a pressing issue.The threat of ecological degradation to human survival and development has become too significant to ignore.As the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide,China is paying more attention to the growing economic and environmental contradictions.In the report of the 20th Party Congress,General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need for China to firmly establish and implement the concept that green water and green mountains are golden mountains,and promote ecological priority,conservation and intensive,green and lowcarbon development.With the continuous promotion of China’s sustainable development concept,the basic idea of taking firms as the core subject and green technology innovation as the core means to achieve green economic transformation has taken shape.Indeed,green technology innovation is seen as an important measure to promote the coordinated development of ecology and economy and to realize the construction of a beautiful China.However,there is an ongoing debate in academia and industry on whether or not it will pay to be green and,if so,how and when.To investigate the above-mentioned issues,this study empirically examines the causal connection between green technology innovation(based on quantitative and qualitative dimensions)and corporate financial performance(based on short-term accounting performance and long-term market performance),as well as the moderating role played by the information environment of corporate operations.The study uses data from Chinese manufacturing companies listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share during the period 2009-2018,based on instrumental stakeholder theory and resource dependence theory.Additionally,the reliability of the research results was ensured through robustness tests such as independent variable substitution,moderating variable substitution,firm-year two-dimensional clustering,instrumental variables method,and propensity score matching method.The findings reveal that both the quantity and quality of green technology innovation significantly improve the financial performance of firms.Information asymmetry has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between green technology innovation and corporate financial performance.This study contributes significantly to theoretical and practical aspects.Theoretically,it takes into account the heterogeneity of green technology innovation and regards the quality of green technology innovation as a vital complementary dimension to the quantity of green technology innovation,while exploring the impact of green technology innovation on the short-term accounting performance and longterm market performance of firms,thereby enriching the study of the economic consequences of green technology innovation.It expands the research perspective on the relationship between green technology innovation and firm financial performance from the perspective of the asymmetric information environment in which firms operate.Practically,it helps industry practitioners,policymakers,and investors to gain a clear and precise understanding of the economic impact of green technology innovation and take strategic initiatives accordingly.