Facilitation or inhibition? The impact of IPR protection on the quality of corporate green innovation

Abstract

High-quality green innovation is a key driver in promoting sustainable development and accelerating the green transformation of economic structures. Using the National Intellectual Property Model City program as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper examines the impact of intellectual property rights protection on the quality of green innovation by employing a staggered difference-in-differences approach and leveraging data from China’s A-share listed firms spanning the years 2010 to 2023. We find that the National Intellectual Property Model City program tends to contribute to high-quality green innovation, demonstrating a gradually strengthening dynamic effect. The program shows to enhance the quality of corporate green patents through green investment driving effect, innovation environment enabling effect and resource integration synergistic effect, according to mechanism analysis. Our findings contribute valuable perspectives on how the protection of intellectual property rights can foster the trajectory of high-quality green innovation in emerging economies.