Advancing sustained green innovation (SGI) is essential to the green transformation of manufacturing enterprises and sustainable development. Technology convergence between digital and real economy industries (TCDR) reshapes firms’ innovation activities by integrating technologies across domains, yet its implications for SGI remain insufficiently understood. Using panel data on Chinese A-share listed manufacturing firms from 2011 to 2023, this study develops a patent-based measure of TCDR and estimates its relationship with SGI using a panel-data regression model incorporating fixed effects. The results show that TCDR is positively associated with SGI, and this finding remains robust across multiple endogeneity and robustness tests. Mechanism analyses indicate that TCDR promotes SGI by alleviating financing constraints, optimizing human capital structure, and enhancing technological integration capability. Heterogeneity is examined using interaction-term regressions. These analyses show that the positive association is stronger in regions with more effective intellectual property protection and among firms with greater digital capability and more stable top management teams. Further analysis shows that SGI is positively associated with corporate energy efficiency. Despite potential limitations associated with the measurement approach and the sample of Chinese listed manufacturing firms, this study enriches understanding of sustained green innovation and highlights the environmental benefits of cross-domain technological integration.

Promoting sustainable consumption is essential for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, encouraging consumers to translate sustainable intentions into green consumption remains challenging. Although e-commerce platforms increasingly implement green reward programs, limited research has examined how different reward designs interact with consumers’ psychological characteristics. Across three scenario-based online experiments with Chinese consumers, this research examines how rewards for monetary efforts (RME) and rewards for temporal efforts (RTE) influence green consumption intention. Study 1 (N = 186) shows that reward effectiveness depends on time orientation: future-oriented consumers exhibit stronger green consumption intention under RTE than RME, whereas present-oriented consumers respond more favorably to RME. Study 2 (N = 183) further demonstrates the mediating role of perceived consumer effectiveness, while Study 3 (N = 377) reveals self-control as an important boundary condition underlying consumers’ responses to different reward types. These findings suggest that green rewards do not generate uniform effects, as their effectiveness depends on the fit between reward design and consumers’ psychological characteristics. Ultimately, this study advances sustainable marketing literature by uncovering the psychological fit and boundary conditions dictating green incentive efficacy, thereby broadening perspectives on consumer heterogeneity while offering guidance for platforms to optimize reward programs.