An application of the planned behavior theory to predict Chinese firms’ environmental innovation

How to drive environmental innovation is the focus of numerous research areas. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this study constructed a driving factor model for environmental innovation. The 2019 annual reports of 116 firms in the steel, coal, chemical, petroleum, building materials and pulp and paper industries were selected as the samples, and the study was conducted using grounded theory. The results showed that firm's environmental innovation behavior is mainly driven by expected economic benefits, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Expected economic benefits are composed of market development and cost savings. Subjective norms include self-regulation reflecting the green culture of firms, descriptive norms formed by industry competition and environmental protection trends, and injunctive norms formed by government regulations and consumer demand for green products. Perceived behavioral control includes internal resource advantages, constituted by material resources, human resources and financial resources, as well as the external advantages, constituted by social network relationships. This study provides a theoretical basis for how to drive environmental innovation, and also provides a useful reference for the Chinese government to formulate policies to promote environmental innovation.