Market-based Environmental Policy Instrument Mixes and Firms’ Environmental Innovation: A Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

This study analyzed the antecedents of firms’ environmental innovation considering policy instrument mixes. Selecting 209 firms as the research sample and employing the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method, we examined the effect of five types of market-based environmental policy instruments on firms’ environmental innovation. We found that environmental innovation was not contingent on any individual condition, but resulted from the mix of the five market-based environmental policy instruments, which formed four paths and three models, namely, incentives-punishment, financial support, and subsidies-demand. The study has implications in improving the applicability of policies and formulating an effective environmental policy framework.