Institutional Complexity and Driving Paths for Enterprises' Green Innovation: A Dynamic QCA Study Based on the Automotive Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

Abstract: To discuss the paths of multi-stakeholder institutional complexity driving green innovation, we adopt the stakeholder theory and dynamic coupling perspective, take Chinese automobile manufacturing enterprises as an example, and apply dynamic QCA to explore the configurations and dynamic trajectories of multiple paths. Panel data QCA finds stronger time effects than case effects for the causal relationships between stakeholder institutional complexity and green innovation. The results of multi-temporal QCA show that there are three configurations in the 12th Five-Year Plan period: market-driven underperforming state-owned enterprises(SOEs), SOEs with inconsistent performance feedback, and non-SOEs with inconsistent performance feedback under the approach of “dual dominance by both the government and the market”. For the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the four configurations are: government-driven high-performing SOEs, market-driven high-performing SOEs, high-performing SOEs with “strong regulations and weak communities”, and poor-performing enterprises co-promoted by multiple stakeholders. Finally, we draw out the dynamic coupling characteristics of the causal relationship between firms' responses to multi-stakeholder institutional complexity and green innovation.

Key words: stakeholder theory, institutional complexity, green innovation, dynamic coupling, dynamic QCA

Liang Xiaomei, Wang Xiuqiong, Wu Xiaojie. Institutional Complexity and Driving Paths for Enterprises' Green Innovation: A Dynamic QCA Study Based on the Automotive Manufacturing Industry[J]. Management Review, 2026, 38(1): 90-103.

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