Strategic or substantive innovation? The effect of government environmental punishment on enterprise green technology innovation

Abstract Under the conduction of decentralized environmental governance, environmental punishment has become a pivotal complementary tool for local government environment management and an intuitive reflection of governance efficiency. However, the literature concerning the effect of local government environmental punishment towards the green technology innovation of enterprises is void. To bridge this gap, this paper adopts the fixed‐effect model to investigate the impact of government environmental punishment on green technology innovation based on the data of China's A‐share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2020. The study finds that the punishment can significantly promote enterprises' green technology innovation. The distinction between the type of innovation reveals that environmental punishment promotes substantive green technology innovation of enterprises, while the effect on strategic green technology innovation is not significant. As far as the influence path is concerned, external pressure and internal incentive are both important mechanisms for environmental punishment to facilitate the green technology innovation of enterprises. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the positive effect of punishment on green technology innovation is more prominent in non‐state‐owned enterprises, heavily polluting industries and regions with strong public awareness of environmental protection. Further discussion reveals that the facilitative effect of punishment on green technology innovation also significantly improves the environmental performance of enterprises. This paper not only confirms the positive role of government intervention in environmental protection, but also provides practical reference for how to improve enterprises' competitiveness.