CEO Media Exposure and Green Technological Innovation Decision: Evidence from Chinese Polluting Firms

Abstract

The upper echelons theory is utilized to establish how CEO's attributes affect firm's technological innovation decisions. The extant literature has largely ignored the impacts of CEO media exposure. An unbalanced panel data analysis is used to examine the effects of CEO media exposure on Chinese polluting firm's green technological innovation. It is illustrated that CEO media exposure generally enhances Chinese polluting firms' green technological innovation decisions. In addition, we find that firms with state ownership and environmental regulations all moderate positively the relationship between CEO media exposure and green technological innovation. The research suggests that CEO media exposure appears to be a stimulus to firm's green technological innovation decisions.