Can green innovation improve export performance in emerging market firms? Evidence from China

Purpose Drawing on legitimacy theory and organisational learning theory, this study aims to investigate the short- and long-term effects of green exploitative innovation and green exploratory innovation on export performance in emerging market firms (EMFs). Design/methodology/approach The authors use a high-dimensional fixed effects model to analyse panel data comprising 30,411 firm-year observations from companies listed in China over the period of 2010–2023. Findings Findings reveal that green exploitative innovation has a significantly positive effect on short-term export performance but has no significant effect on long-term export performance. In addition, green exploratory innovation has no significant effect on short-term export performance but has a significantly positive effect on long-term export performance. Moreover, when EMFs’ environmental protection experience is low, the effect of green exploitative innovation on export performance shifts from the short term to the long term, and the effect of green exploratory innovation on export performance disappears entirely in short and long terms. Originality/value The findings contribute to two streams of recent research. Firstly, the authors advance the international business literature by clarifying the differential short- and long-term effects of green exploitative innovation and green exploratory innovation on the export performance of EMFs. Secondly, the authors identify environmental protection experience as a key boundary condition that shapes the influence of green innovation on EMFs’ export performance, providing a more nuanced understanding of this relationship.