Navigating sustainable growth: Green innovation as a mediator between CSR Engagement and firm value in emerging markets

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.