Effective environmental strategy or illusory tactics? Corporate greenwashing and innovation willingness

Author Identifier

Gabriel Eweje: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4210-2489

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Business Strategy and the Environment

Publisher

Wiley

School

School of Business and Law

RAS ID

77140

Funders

Ministry of Education of China (23YJA630067) / Program for the Innovative Talents of Higher Education Institutions of Shanxi (20191043) / Humanities and Social Sciences of Higher Education Institutions of Shanxi (W20210011) / Special Project for Science and Technology Strategy Research of Shanxi Province (W20231014)

Comments

Lu, J., Rong, D., Eweje, G., Yuan, X., Song, M., & Searcy, C. (2025). Effective environmental strategy or illusory tactics? Corporate greenwashing and innovation willingness. Business Strategy and the Environment, 34(1), 1338-1356. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.4047

Abstract

Corporate greenwashing is an unethical environmental strategy that has received extensive attention from practitioners and academics; however, little is known about its influence on innovation willingness. The purpose of this study is to fill this important gap by exploring the influence mechanism of corporate greenwashing on innovation willingness through underperformance duration. Drawing on resource-based theory, Homo economicus, and performance feedback theory, this study uses data of 610 Chinese A-share listed heavily polluting companies (3819 company-year observations) from 2013 to 2019. The results show that there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between corporate greenwashing and innovation willingness, with underperformance duration partially mediating this relationship. The findings advance our understanding of the non-economic consequences of corporate greenwashing, enrich the literature on corporate greenwashing and innovation willingness, and offer valuable insights for interdisciplinary studies between environmental strategy and corporate innovation. Practical implications provide policymakers with recommendations on how to prevent corporate greenwashing in environmental responsibility.

DOI

10.1002/bse.4047

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