The role of robot adoption in green innovation: Evidence from China

Green innovative activities are important for sustainable business development and green growth. However, little attention has been given to the role of technology adoption in green innovation. In this study, using a sample of Chinese listed manufacturing companies over the time period 2011–2019, we find that the adoption of industrial robots positively affects green innovation and the results survive when using multiple robustness tests and addressing endogenous issues. Moreover, the possible mechanisms are labor cost saving and human capital structure adjustment. Our findings are more significant for firms facing more stringent environmental regulations, firms in high-tech industries, firms owning high levels of investment in R&D activities, and Non-SOEs. On the whole, this study provides the first firm-level economic consequences assessment of robot adoption in terms of green innovation.