Institutional Factors Influencing CSR-Driven Innovation: A Moderation Analysis of Government Subsidies and Ownership Structure

This study examines how corporate social responsibility(CSR) affects technological innovation in China’s electronics industry, with a focus on the moderating effects of government R&D subsidies and corporate ownership. Based on panel data from 2010 to 2020, the results indicate a significant positive impact of CSR on technological innovation. However, government R&D subsidies do not exhibit an overall moderating effect on this relationship. Further analysis reveals that CSR enhances innovation only in firms receiving lower subsidy levels, while its effect becomes insignificant in high-subsidy firms. Ownership heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that CSR drives innovation in state-owned enterprises(SOEs) but not in private firms. When combining subsidy levels and ownership, the positive effect of CSR is exclusively observed in low-subsidy SOEs. These findings contribute to the literature on CSR and innovation dynamics, while providing policy implications for optimizing R&D subsidy designs to strengthen China’s technological innovation capacity.