Relationships between fluctuations of environmental regulation, technological innovation, and economic growth: a multinational perspective
Journal of Enterprise Information Management
ISSN: 1741-0398
Article publication date: 24 June 2021
Issue publication date: 20 June 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Environmental regulation is in a continuous state of intense change and modification amid the long-term tensions between environmental protection and economic growth. In this article, the authors creatively investigate how fluctuations of environmental regulation influence a nation's economic growth while also examining the mediating effect of technological innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
Using sample data of 36 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries from 2013 to 2018, environmental regulation is differentiated in two aspects of formal environmental regulation (FER) and informal environmental regulation (IER) and analyzed to assess the effects of regulatory fluctuations on investment and technological innovation.
Findings
The research results demonstrate that both FER fluctuation and IER fluctuation exert a significant negative impact on economic growth. These two fluctuations in environmental regulation increase uncertainty and unpredictable risks for corporations and investors, significantly stifling the willingness to contribute to innovation activities and leading to a diminished level of innovation. Technological innovation is revealed to have a mediating influence on the relationship of environmental regulation fluctuation to economic growth.
Originality/value
These findings enrich the research on the impact of environmental regulation from a dynamic, multinational perspective, contributing to the literature by exploring the relationships between environmental regulation fluctuation, technological innovation and economic growth at the OECD-country level.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for funding support from the Research Project of Ministry of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences project, China (Project No. 18YJC630167).
Citation
Xie, Z., Qu, L., Lin, R. and Guo, Q. (2022), "Relationships between fluctuations of environmental regulation, technological innovation, and economic growth: a multinational perspective", Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 35 No. 4/5, pp. 1267-1287. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-02-2021-0104
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited