Time-honored brand culture and corporate green innovation
研究老字号品牌文化对中国上市公司绿色创新的影响，发现其通过提升企业声誉、商业信用和组织包容性促进绿色创新，且效果在信任度高、竞争弱、非家族企业等情境下更显著。
Purpose This study aims to explore the influence of time-honored brand (THB) culture on corporate green transformation. Design/methodology/approach We manually collect data on THB culture from Chinese listed firms during the period of 2010–2019 to explore the relationship between THB culture and corporate green transition. To account for any potential endogenous issues, we conduct a series of robustness tests including difference-in-differences (DID) and PSM-DID analysis, as well as instrumental variable (IV) regression. Findings We find that THB culture significantly promotes corporate green innovation. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this positive effect is more pronounced in firms located in regions with higher social trust, operating in less competitive industries, those that are non-family-owned, large-scale, and led by older chairmen. Further channel analysis shows that THB culture promotes corporate green innovation by enhancing corporate reputation, trade credit, and organizational inclusiveness. Originality/value The findings of this study identify an important internal driver of corporate green innovation and provide new insights into corporate green transformation and sustainable development in transition economy.