Enterprise Green Innovation Mechanism under the “Target-Resource-Network” System—An Empirical Study Based on Data of Listed Companies in China’s Construction Industry
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Overall, it is an interesting paper and attracts audience. however, the paper needs a revision for its brevity and quality; please go through the comments in the attached file and edict accordingly.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear reviewers:
We are very grateful to your comments for the manuscript. According with your advice, we tried our best to amend the relevant part and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. All of your questions were answered below. And here we list the changes and marked in red in revised paper.
The details are as follows:
Point 1: The author must delineate on the hierarchy of the abstract. the start must be followed by the methods and then conclusion.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment! We revised the sentence as follows:” By using fixed-effect model, coupling mechanism analysis and heterogeneity test, we find that:”[Pg1,Ln17-18]
Point 2: “it is proposed that we should “accelerate the green transformation of the development mode, implement the comprehensive conservation strategy, develop green and low-carbon industries, advocate green consumption, and promote the formation of a green and low-carbon mode of production and life style” [3]. The production and operation of construction enterprises are closely related to people’s production and life, occupying an important position in promoting a low carbon economy. In order to solve the contradiction between the large carbon emission of construction enterprises and the urgent need for industrial green transformation under the high-quality development stage, a complete revelation of the formation mechanism of green innovation in construction enterprises is needed. Exploring the complete chain and experience rule of construction enterprises to carry out green innovation is conducive to improving the efficiency of green innovation in enterprises.” the writing style is inconsistent. In first lines, the "we" approach and then an entire objectivity. the author must make a consistent writing package.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment! We revised the sentence. [Pg2, Ln54-66]
Point 3: “Enterprise green innovation is a complex technical behavior, it is difficult to break through the multiple dilemmas of enterprise green innovation only by solving the problems at one level of the targets, resources, and networks and paying attention to the impact of one of the factors.” any evidence of the claim?
Response 3: Thanks for the comment! There is no evidence of the claim. This sentence is our understanding of the current progress of green innovation in enterprises. As we know, corporate green innovation is not only related to internal development but also to social environmental protection, so it is more complex than ordinary innovation behavior. Therefore, we need to think about it in multiple dimensions to better understand the mechanism of green innovation in enterprises.
Point 4: ”3.3. Model Building” There is no theory supporting the selected model. It must have been given.
Response 4: Thanks for the comment! We revised the sentence as follows:” Based on the results of the Hausman test, we chose a fixed-effect model with good robustness to verify the major impact of target-level elements [38]. And this paper refers to the practices of Liu Zhiming (2022) [9] and others to construct the following model:” [Pg9, Ln412-415]
Point 5: “5. Further Analysis” tests of mediation and its related logic needs to be given
Response 5: Thanks for the comment! We added more explanations as follows:” Environmental targets for governments and enterprises have an impact on green innovation of enterprises [18,20,21]. At the same time, the investment of the government and enterprises is also related to the green innovation of enterprises [27,28]. Furthermore, from target setting to the realization of green innovation, certain resources are required.” [Pg12, Ln494-497]
Point 6: conclusion and implication may be presented under one heading while delineating on the most appropriate language and concision.
Response 6: Thanks for the comment! In the conclusion section, we summarize the main conclusions of this article. In the implication part, we further consider the practical significance of this research for enterprises and governments in promoting green innovation. We understand that you may concern the unclear logic and concise language of these two parts. To address these concerns, we've made some adjustments to the language for these two parts. [Pg20-22]
We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Should you have any questions, please contact us without hesitate.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Yours Sincerely,
Songchuan Chen, Jinhang Wang, Zhiwei Zhang
Reviewer 2 Report
This article analyses the Enterprise Green Innovation Mechanism under the “Goal-Resource-Network” System using the data from listed companies of China's construction industry.
The literature review is well organized and presents relevant works for the reader to become acquainted with the subject. the data is from reliable sources and treated accordingly. The methodology is well presented and suited for the developed study.
The conclusions are supported by the results.
Author Response
Dear reviewers:
We are very grateful to your comments for the manuscript.
The details are as follows.
Point1: This article analyses the Enterprise Green Innovation Mechanism under the “Goal-Resource-Network” System using the data from listed companies of China's construction industry.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment!
Point2: The literature review is well organized and presents relevant works for the reader to become acquainted with the subject. the data is from reliable sources and treated accordingly. The methodology is well presented and suited for the developed study.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment!
Point3: The conclusions are supported by the results.
Response 3: Thanks for the comment!
We appreciate for your warm work earnestly. Should you have any questions, please contact us without hesitate.
Once again, thank you for your comments and encouragement
Yours Sincerely,
Songchuan Chen, Jinhang Wang, Zhiwei Zhang
Reviewer 3 Report
The main purpose of this paper is to explore the drivers of green business innovation and elucidate the interplay between factors at various levels. Combining the theories of resource dependence, social networks, institutional context analysis, and goal/target setting, the authors describe the interplay of goal-level, resource-level, and network-level factors in green enterprise innovation in the construction sector of China.
The paper also addresses the impact of government and organizational goals on green innovation and its development mechanisms. It further examines the role of government subsidies and business resources for rural development as facilitators, and the role of political and collaborative business networks as facilitators in the process of realizing green innovation.
DV = green innovation. This paper selects the number of green patent applications
IV = The target proposed in this paper refers to the expectation of the internal and external environment of enterprises to achieve green development. For the treatment of this abstract element of the target layer, this paper decomposes it into government’s environmental goals and enterprises’ environmental goals from the macro and micro perspectives, which are expressed by Tar 1 and Tar 2 respectively.
Various other variables are included in the model as IVs, mediators and controls. In the tables the word ‘controlled’ variables is used – general practice is simply control.
I would like to see some better explanation of the derivation of the IV for each of the 886 cases. The method seems to have been applied in another paper, but this was unclear to me.
Generally the quality of the writing is mixed and often times the meaning is unclear. A professional edit for clarity would be useful.
The modelling processes look sound and are a strength of the paper.
Author Response
Dear reviewers:
We are very grateful to your comments for the manuscript. According with your advice, we tried our best to amend the relevant part and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. All of your questions were answered below. And here we list the changes and marked in red in revised paper.
The details are as follows:
Point 1: Various other variables are included in the model as IVs, mediators and controls. In the tables the word ‘controlled’ variables is used – general practice is simply control.
Response 1: Thank you for your careful review of the content of this article. We have revised the word ‘controlled’ variables to control variables in the tables.
Point 2: I would like to see some better explanation of the derivation of the IV for each of the 886 cases. The method seems to have been applied in another paper, but this was unclear to me.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment! In Part 2.1 of this article, we focus on the impact of government’s environmental goals and enterprises’ environmental goals on corporate green innovation. “Unlike conventional innovation, which primarily considers economic rewards, green innovation bears the ecological duty of environmental protection. As a result, green innovation requires a stronger driving force to promote its application.” [Pg3, Ln139-141] Therefore, this article uses the target-level elements as the IV. However, we have not clearly explained why the target-level elements are broken down into government’s environmental goals and enterprises’ environmental goals. So we have added some bullet points about explanation of the derivation of the IV as follows: “Studies have shown that corporate decision-making [13,14], capabilities [10,15], per-formance [16], and efficiency [17,2] will drive green innovation. Through further about the sources of these drivers, it is easy to see that they are closely related to whether environmental protection targets are included in the corporate strategy. Similarly, it is the emphasis to achieve environmental targets in government governance that has led to a series of behaviors, such as government behavior choices [18] and environmental regulation [8], to promote corporate green innovation.” [Pg4, Ln166-172] In addition, according to some references we have read, the construction methods of IV in section 3.2 of this article are introduced [Pg7, Ln331-370], which may contain the literature you mentioned.
Point 3: Generally the quality of the writing is mixed and often times the meaning is unclear. A professional edit for clarity would be useful.
Response 3: Thanks for the comment! We have polished the full content.
We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Should you have any questions, please contact us without hesitate.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Yours Sincerely,
Songchuan Chen, Jinhang Wang, Zhiwei Zhang
Reviewer 4 Report
This study examines the factors to foster green innovation by focusing on targets, resources, and networks as a system. I found the holistic approach to green innovation valuable and also contributable to the literature. However, there are some opportunities that the paper can be further developed for publication. Let me discuss the points.
1. The goal-resource-network System
My first question was why we have to look at the goal-resource-network system. And why it is a nested (or multi-level) “system.” How can we understand a ‘system’ in a firm, how it is manifested, how the system levels are determined, and why such a multi-level system should be considered should be addressed to argue a ‘system’ to foster green innovation. Related to this, the authors may want to present the three levels are mutually exclusive and collectively exhausted to constitute a system.
2. Main arguments
While this paper clearly states its goals, the goals are contextualized to China. I wondered if the study can be generalized to other countries. It would be better if this study can discuss how this study can be applied to other contexts. For this, I recommend that the term of target-resource-network system is conceptualized based on theoretical foundations. For example, at the target level, this study argues that the governmental initiatives can affect the firms’ implementation of green innovation. This has been long discussed in institutional theory (e.g. coercive isomorphism). The authors may want to adopt this institutionalism logic to conceptualize the system component as well as to develop the main arguments.
Given this, the hypothesis development could be revisited. I cannot clearly see how the hypotheses are developed to support the theoretical perspectives of the system. The hypotheses might focus on how firms implement the green-innovation processes under the governmental initiatives for it. If so, how the ‘goal-resource-network’ system is involved in this firm’s responses to the government should be elaborated. Furthermore, the hypotheses cannot self-explain in specifying how the study empirically approaches to the main goals of this study. For example, in Hypothesis 2a, which says “government’s environmental goals promote green innovation of enterprises by increasing government subsidies”, I wondered what aspects of government’s environmental goals can promote green innovation. Perhaps, the government’s initiatives are realized by increasing the government subsidies. Then the hypothesis could tell this relationship between the government subsidies and the firm’s green innovation directly.
3. Methods
I expected that the empirical models present the properties of a “system,” such as inter-relationship between system components, configuration of the components, etc. The mediation model might present the system properties, but the authors may want to employ structural equation modeling or other simultaneous models for this. Also, given that the dependent variable is a count variable, the estimation model could be clearly discussed.
Hope these comments help to develop such a potential study.
Author Response
Dear reviewers:
We are very grateful to your comments for the manuscript. According with your advice, we tried our best to amend the relevant part and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. All of your questions were answered below. And here we list the changes and marked in red in revised paper.
The details are as follows:
Point 1: The goal-resource-network System
My first question was why we have to look at the goal-resource-network system. And why it is a nested (or multi-level) “system.” How can we understand a ‘system’ in a firm, how it is manifested, how the system levels are determined, and why such a multi-level system should be considered should be addressed to argue a ‘system’ to foster green innovation. Related to this, the authors may want to present the three levels are mutually exclusive and collectively exhausted to constitute a system.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment! In fact, in writing this article we consciously want to answer the question of why we have to look at the target-resource-network system. Regrettably, due to the limitation of writing ability, we did not reflect it well in the article. Thinking about the current dilemma of enterprise innovation brings us to this system. Through thinking about the dilemmas and summarizing existing research, we found out he targets are prerequisite for green innovation. Second, resources are necessary conditions for realizing green innovation for enterprises. In addition, network relationships may bring some invisible convenience to enterprise green innovation. Enterprise green innovation is a complex technical behavior, it is difficult to break through the multiple dilemmas of enterprise green innovation only by solving the problems at one level of the targets, resources, and networks and paying attention to the impact of one of the factors. The overall consideration of target design, resource input and relationship networks are conducive to the integration of enterprise green innovation with national policies and market competition.
Point 2: Main arguments
While this paper clearly states its goals, the goals are contextualized to China. I wondered if the study can be generalized to other countries. It would be better if this study can discuss how this study can be applied to other contexts. For this, I recommend that the term of target-resource-network system is conceptualized based on theoretical foundations.
For example, at the target level, this study argues that the governmental initiatives can affect the firms’ implementation of green innovation. This has been long discussed in institutional theory (e. g. coercive isomorphism). The authors may want to adopt this institutionalism logic to conceptualize the system component as well as to develop the main arguments.
Given this, the hypothesis development could be revisited. I cannot clearly see how the hypotheses are developed to support the theoretical perspectives of the system. The hypotheses might focus on how firms implement the green-innovation processes under the governmental initiatives for it. If so, how the ‘goal-resource-network’ system is involved in this firm’s responses to the government should be elaborated.
Furthermore, the hypotheses cannot self-explain in specifying how the study empirically approaches to the main goals of this study. For example, in Hypothesis 2a, which says “government’s environmental goals promote green innovation of enterprises by increasing government subsidies”, I wondered what aspects of government’s environmental goals can promote green innovation. Perhaps, the government’s initiatives are realized by increasing the government subsidies. Then the hypothesis could tell this relationship between the government subsidies and the firm’s green innovation directly.
Response 2: Thanks for the comment!
(1)” if the study can be generalized to other countries”:
we agree that it will be better if the term of target-resource-network system is conceptualized based on theoretical foundations. We summarized this system according to different research results while there is no complete theoretical support for this system in the existing theory. And the data of this empirical study comes from the Chinese companies. Therefore, strictly speaking, this research cannot be generalized to other countries at present. We extremely hope to be able to provide references for other countries and further confirm our conclusions with more representative data, which will be the direction of our future research efforts
(2)” the hypothesis development could be revisited.” &” how the ‘goal-resource-network’ system is involved in this firm’s responses to the government should be elaborated.”:
In the literature review part, we focus on the impact of target-level elements, resource-level elements and network-level elements in the system in green innovation. Although they are seen as a system, it's a pity that there is a lack of a theoretical view of the system as a whole. Therefore, we have added elaboration as follows:
“From the perspective of systems thinking, sustainable development should have a high degree of coordination effect in terms of scientific mechanism, target indicators, and response measures [25]. To a certain extent, the establishment of target indicators requires the coordination of corresponding resources to promote green innovation. Meanwhile, it is necessary to take the social network relationship into account that innovation is not something that can be achieved only by enterprises [27]. With the consideration of targets, resources and networks synchronously, green innovation forms a logical innovation chain. Clear government environmental targets help com-panies value green innovation. Forward-looking companies also set their own envi-ronmental targets to ensure sustainability. In order to achieve the environmental tar-gets required by the government and the green innovation targets required by their own development, enterprises need to implement the targets with the help of gov-ernment subsidies and enterprise innovation investment [27,28]. They are actively or passively mobilizing their networks to accelerate green innovation at the same time [32,33]. In summary, it can be seen that the targets are prerequisite for green innovation. Second, resources are necessary conditions for realizing green innovation for enterprises. In addition, network relationships may bring some invisible convenience to enterprise green innovation.” [Pg6-7, Ln292-309].
(3) “the hypotheses cannot self-explain in specifying how the study empirically approaches to the main goals of this study”:
We made some changes to the literature review. However, we consider the government's environmental goals as a whole, expressed by the content analysis of the relevant policies issued by the government every year. Therefore, it might be difficult to answer what aspects of government’s environmental goals can promote green innovation.
Point 3: Methods
I expected that the empirical models present the properties of a “system,” such as inter-relationship between system components, configuration of the components, etc. The mediation model might present the system properties, but the authors may want to employ structural equation modeling or other simultaneous models for this. Also, given that the dependent variable is a count variable, the estimation model could be clearly discussed.
Response 3: Thanks for the comment! We hope to examine the main impact of target-level elements on enterprise green innovation through a fixed-effect model. The mediating role of resource-level elements and the moderating role of network-level elements are discussed through mechanism testing. Therefore, it can be said that the elements of the three levels play different roles in this system. Further, we put this system together through coupling mechanism analysis to consider the degree of coupling between them. By this way, we can know both their respective roles in the system and the impact of their overall coupling degree on the green innovation of the enterprise.
We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Should you have any questions, please contact us without hesitate.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Yours Sincerely,
Songchuan Chen, Jinhang Wang, Zhiwei Zhang
Round 2
Reviewer 4 Report
The revision is well-drafted. I think it is ready to be published. I appreciate all the efforts of the authors for this terrific work.
