中小投资者环保关注与企业绿色创新

Green innovation is a crucial pathway to achieving a balance between economic growth and environmental protection. Against the backdrop of the “dual carbon” goals, as key participants in the capital market, the role of minority investors
in influencing corporate green innovation through their environmental concerns has yet to be systematically studied. To address this gap, this study investigates whether and how minority investors′ environmental concerns impact corporate green innovation, as well as the underlying mechanisms involved.
　　This research uses environmental inquiry data from the interactive platforms of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange, combined with green patent data from listed firms. A sample of listed firms in heavily polluting industries from 2010 to 2021 is constructed for analysis. Using a fixed-effects regression model, this study examines the impact of minority investors′ environmental concerns on corporate green innovation. Furthermore, mechanism analyses explore how minority investors′ environmental concerns affect information asymmetry, agency costs, financing constraints, R&D investment, and the proportion of R&D personnel. Additionally, heterogeneity analyses are conducted based on the degree of information asymmetry and the differences of regional environmental awareness, while extended analyses are performed considering patent types, response quality, corporate ownership, and the categories of environmental inquiries.
　　The findings reveal that minority investors′ environmental concerns significantly promote corporate green innovation, a conclusion that is robust across a series of tests. Mechanism analyses indicate that minority investors′ environmental concerns reduce information asymmetry, alleviate agency costs and financing constraints, and increase R&D investment and the proportion of R&D personnel, which collectively drive green innovation. Moreover, the positive effect of minority investors′ environmental concerns on green innovation is more pronounced in firms with higher levels of information asymmetry and those located in regions with lower environmental awareness. Extended analyses show that minority investors′ environmental concerns have a stronger effect on invention patents compared to utility patents. Furthermore, such concerns promote both independent and collaborative innovation. Minority investors′ environmental concerns exhibit a strong supervisory effect, as their influence remains unaffected by corporate ownership or the quality of responses. However, firms′ reactions vary across different types of environmental inquiries.
　　This study highlights the significant role of minority investors′ environmental concerns in fostering corporate green innovation, thereby enriching the research on stakeholder participation in corporate green governance. The findings underscore the importance of investor interactive platforms as a fundamental infrastructure for effective information communication. This provides empirical support for policymakers to optimize the construction of such platforms to facilitate investors' expression of environmental concerns. Meanwhile, firms should actively respond to investors′ concerns to achieve coordinated economic and environmental development.