Zhe Sun, Liang Zhao, Hind Alofaysan, Bhumika Gupta, Vikram Kumar Sharma. Navigating sustainable growth: green innovation as a mediator between CSR Engagement and firm value in emerging markets. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2026, 226, pp.124566. ⟨10.1016/j.techfore.2026.124566⟩.

Research on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), green innovation, and firm value remains contentious, debating whether CSR acts as a value-enhancing driver or a cost-inducing burden; this study constructs a unified theoretical framework—drawing on the attention-based view, stakeholder theory, and institutional theory—to reconcile these perspectives, finding empirically that CSR engagement significantly enhances firm value by promoting green innovation. We uncover critical boundary conditions: financial constraints significantly weaken the CSR–green innovation link, while executive compensation incentives significantly strengthen it, and ownership type (SOE vs. POE) moderates all these relationships; these results deepen the theoretical understanding of the CSR–innovation–value nexus and offer actionable insights for firms and policymakers pursuing sustainable growth in emerging economies.