2026-10-14T22:54:02Z https://www.scidb.cn/oai

10.57760/sciencedb.011em 2026-09-04T16:16:09Z

2026-09-04 External Financing Dependence, Workforce Skill Upgrading, and Corporate Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms doi:10.57760/sciencedb.011em en Green innovation increasingly depends on firms’ ability to sustain investment in financial and human capital, yet the role of reliance on external financing in shaping this process remains insufficiently understood. Using panel data on Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2024, this study examines the relationship between external financing dependence and corporate green innovation, with particular attention to the mediating role of workforce skill upgrading. A two-way fixed-effects model is employed, complemented by a series of endogeneity and robustness analyses. The results show that dependence on external financing is positively and significantly associated with corporate green innovation, and this relationship remains robust across alternative specifications. Mechanism analyses indicate that greater dependence on external financing is associated with higher proportions of R&D personnel, technical personnel, and highly educated employees, each of which is positively related to green innovation, thereby supporting significant indirect effects through workforce skill upgrading. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the positive association is more pronounced among firms in eastern and central China, non-state-owned enterprises, and manufacturing firms. These findings extend the literature on corporate green innovation by showing that dependence on external financing affects not only firms’ financial resource conditions but also the internal allocation of skilled labor. External Financing Dependence; Corporate Green Innovation; Workforce Skill Upgrading Yang Liu RESTRICTED dataset Science Data Bank