Effects and Mechanisms of ESG Performance Affecting Firms’ Innovation Efficiency - Based on Regression Analysis Perspective

Based on selecting A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2013 to 2022 as the research sample, this paper explores the effect and mechanism of ESG performance on corporate innovation efficiency using a regression analysis model. It is found that ESG performance is positively correlated with corporate innovation efficiency at a 1% significance level with a correlation coefficient of 0.057, which means that ESG performance can improve corporate innovation efficiency. Government subsidies play a mediating role in the relationship between corporate ESG performance and corporate innovation, and corporate ESG performance can enable enterprises to obtain more government subsidies, which can promote the enhancement of corporate innovation capacity. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that the ESG performance of non-state-owned enterprises and enterprises in the growth period has a more obvious effect on the improvement of corporate innovation efficiency, and their correlation coefficients reach 0.537 and 0.483, respectively. To summarize, based on the enterprise level, exploring the impact and mechanism of ESG performance on green innovation efficiency has important theoretical and practical significance for promoting the transformation of a low-carbon economy.