Air Pollution and Corporate Innovation: Does Top Management Quality Mediate and Government Talent Policy Moderate?

Air pollution not only poses significant threats to the physical and mental well-being of individuals, but it also has the potential to trigger a regional brain drain, thus inhibiting corporate innovation performance. This study explores the impact of air pollution on corporate innovation from the perspective of top management quality. We find that lower air quality significantly reduces the quality of corporate top management, thereby reducing their innovation output. However, local government talent attention alleviates the negative impact of air pollution on corporate innovation. Further analysis reveals that the local government’s environmental attention aggravates the negative effects of air pollution on corporate innovation. Finally, executive compensation alleviates the negative impact of air pollution on corporate innovation.