Exploring New Green Frontiers? How CEO Green and Technological Experience Shapes Firm Ambidextrous Green Innovation

Jianbang Xu and Yimin Wang ()
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Jianbang Xu: School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
Yimin Wang: School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-27

Abstract: Green innovation has gained prominence in managerial practice and academic discourse. We build on recent findings that CEO green experience promotes firm green innovation by examining how it affects the balance between exploratory and exploitative green innovation. Recognizing that the extent to which executive attributes translate into firm-level actions and results is contingent on contextual factors, we further test the moderating roles of firm ownership, industry environmental sensitivity, and regional economic development. Utilizing a panel dataset of Chinese non-financial A-share listed companies spanning 2007 to 2023, the empirical results provide compelling evidence that CEO green experience is positively associated with exploratory green innovation. This positive association is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises, firms operating in environmentally nonsensitive industries, and those located in more developed regions. Our theory and findings contribute to the scholarship on CEO characteristics and green innovation. This study also delivers managerial guidance for enterprises aiming to achieve sustainable growth.

Keywords: CEO green experience; ambidextrous green innovation; firm ownership; industry environmental sensitivity; regional economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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