Deconstruction of green product innovation drivers for regional export-oriented industrial enterprises in China: the product space perspective

Achieving green economic growth requires enterprises to develop and promote green products that balance environmental protection, intensive resource utilization, and sustainable development. However, under externality assumptions, green markets often face insufficient supply. Using 2004–2018 panel data on regional industrial enterprises in 30 Chinese provinces, this study empirically tests a composite driving mechanism linking increases in regional green production capacity, organizational factors, and environmental policies to the green product innovation (GPI) of regional export-oriented industrial enterprises (REIEs). The study finds: increases in regional green production capacity directly raise REIEs’ GPI; regional green technology levels and human capital accumulation are indirect channels; and environmental regulation and green credit positively moderate the impact of capacity increases on GPI. Threshold regressions further reveal inverted U-shaped promoting effects of increases in green production capacity, foreign direct investment, digitization, and trade openness on GPI, and a diminishing marginal utility of the proportion of local government expenditure.