Although government subsidies have gradually become a crucial means of endorsing public innovation policies, there remains no unified conclusion on the mechanism of their role in enterprise sustainable innovation investment. Employing sample data of listed Chinese manufacturing companies between 2011 and 2019, this study aims to discuss the incentive effect of government subsidies on enterprise innovation investment based on different enterprise ownership. With the combination of resource dependency theory and stakeholder theory, the findings suggest that the intensity of government subsidies exerts an incentive effect on corporate innovation investment; however, the incentive effect is different under the influence of political connections and investor attention. In particular, political connections inhibit the incentive effect and investor attention promotes the incentive effect. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence for the rational allocation of resources by the Chinese government and the acquisition of innovation investment by enterprises of different ownerships and the development of innovation capabilities.

Innovation is the main driving force for promoting high-quality economic development. The ability for knowledge innovation and knowledge transformation productivity reflects the ability for scientific research transformation and the comprehensive strength of the science and technology of the country. This paper takes the knowledge innovation literature collected in the Web of Science database as its research object, carries on the knowledge atlas analysis with Citespace IV software, makes a knowledge atlas of the space-time distribution, document co-citation and keyword co-occurrence, respectively, and further explores the distribution status, changing trend and hot areas of knowledge innovation research. (1) American and British scholars have led the research in knowledge innovation, and Chinese scholars have followed the international frontier in this field; (2) The research evolution path of knowledge innovation can be summarized as follows: the research object is gradually detailed from the macro-enterprise level to the micro-enterprise level. The research hotspots are as follows: (3) The four hotspots of knowledge innovation research are based on research on the knowledge innovation system within enterprises, research on the knowledge innovation mode based on innovation cooperation among enterprises, and research on the knowledge innovation among enterprises based on inter-organizational knowledge. Research on the knowledge innovation path of knowledge sharing and enterprise knowledge innovation development is based on the global strategic orientation. This paper clarifies the evolution path and development trend of knowledge innovation research, offering a summary for further research and motivating professionals to research future knowledge innovation.

This study explores how bank-firm relationships and executives with banking backgrounds influence greenwashing among Chinese A-share listed firms, based on Institutional and Agency Theories. Firms with bank shareholding or banking-experienced executives show a higher propensity for greenwashing, driven by executive compensation structures tied to inflated ESG scores. Financialization amplifies symbolic ESG disclosures, while transparency reduces greenwashing. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that non-state-owned enterprises and firms in less financially developed regions are more affected. These findings highlight the need for robust governance and transparency to promote authentic ESG practices, offering insights into mitigating greenwashing in emerging markets.

After 2014, China focused on supply-side reform and put forward the concept of replacing old driving with new driving force, which can create a new round of economic improvement. From the perspective of the conversion of old and new driving forces of enterprises, this paper takes the listed enterprises in China’s a-share manufacturing industry from 2016 to 2018 as samples. This paper also discusses the “Net Effect” of CEO turnover on the conversion of new and old driving forces of enterprises. The results reflect that CEO turnover has a negative effect on the conversion of old and new driving force. Moving forward, when the CEO and chairman changes at the same time or the ownership of the enterprise turns to state-owned, the change of CEO has a higher degree of prevention on the conversion of old and new force. The number of board’s conferences and the degree of equity balance will increase the negative effect of CEO turnover on the conversion of old and new driving force.

This paper examines the impact of environmental management system (EMS) certification, a significant voluntary participatory environmental regulation, on the risk of stock price collapse. The study is based on sample data of heavily polluting listed companies from 2008–2020. The study demonstrates that certification of environmental management systems has a significant impact on preventing share price collapse. This finding remains consistent even after controlling for endogeneity and conducting robustness tests. The analysis also reveals that the inhibitory effect of EMS certification is more pronounced for state-owned enterprises and firms with a higher degree of marketisation. Exploring the mechanism of its influence, it is found that environmental management system certification mainly suppresses the risk of stock price collapse by improving the environmental performance of enterprises and the transparency of corporate information, suggesting that environmental management system certification can be used as both an "environmental governance tool" for suppressing stock price collapse and an "information transfer tool" for improving the transparency of corporate information, thus suppressing the risk of stock price collapse. Meanwhile, the media’s attention has been found to moderate the effect of environmental management system certification on stock price crash risk. These findings validate the inhibitory effect of environmental management system certification on stock price crash risk, expand our understanding of the economic consequences of environmental management system certification and the factors that influence stock price crash risk. They also provide a theoretical basis and practical support for environmental regulators.

This study examines the institutional configurations driving national AI innovation capability from a national innovation system (NIS) perspective. Using time-lagged panel fsQCA on 156 observations from 27 countries from 2018 to 2024, we identify distinct pathways to high national AI innovation capability. Academic innovation capability emerges through three paths: policy-driven, where national AI strategies and computing infrastructure foster knowledge generation; industry-synergistic, where industrial infrastructure and computing power support research via real-world data and experiments; and resource-driven, where computing power and venture capital sustain innovation. Industrial innovation arises through a comprehensive development path, integrating industrial infrastructure, computing power, and human capital, and a resource–finance-driven path, combining industrial capacity, computing power, and venture capital to accelerate commercialization. The results highlight the configurational and multifaceted nature of national AI innovation, offering actionable guidance for policymakers seeking to enhance national AI innovation capabilities.