Do Analysts Care About Corporate Green Innovation: Evidence From Listed Companies In China.

This study investigates the impact of corporate green innovation on security analysts’ investment recommendations, examining how this relationship is contingent upon corporate-level and regional characteristics and how it evolves over time. Drawing on the perspective of institutional logics, we theorize that analysts’ concerns about the quality of green innovation, coupled with the financial logic of maximizing shareholder wealth, propels analysts to make more pessimistic recommendations for firms with more green innovation outputs. Crucially, this negative effect is strengthened when firms are suspected of greenwashing or when regional green policies exhibit high uncertainty. Besides, over time, protracted and capital-intensive green initiatives will increasingly clash with analysts’ short-term financial logic, analysts are likely to remain more negative attitude to green innovation. Conversely, a higher extent of corporate internationalization weakens this negative effect. Empirical evidence from a sample of Chinese listed manufacturing firms during 2010–2020 supports our theoretical arguments. Our findings reveal the interplay of conflicting institutional logics in shaping capital market responses to corporate green innovation. It enriches both sustainability research and the literature on institutional complexity, offering important practical implications for managers and policymakers.