Industrial robot adoption and firm environmental governance: the heterogeneity perspective of environmental governance motivation and technological transformation capacity

Industrial robots have become a crucial driver of advanced manufacturing. Using a sample of Chinese listed manufacturing firms, we examine whether and how industrial robot adoption affects firm environmental governance behaviours. The findings show that industrial robot adoption significantly improves firms’ environmental performance. This effect is more pronounced for firms with greater environmental governance motivation such as those with managers who have stronger environmental awareness, more green-oriented investors, better ESG performance, operating in heavily polluting industries, and located in regions with more effective environmental law enforcement. It is also stronger for firms with greater technological transformation capability, reflected in possessing higher green innovation capability, greater digital transformation, more advanced labor structures, and higher managerial efficiency. These findings provide new evidence on the heterogeneous environmental governance effects of robot adoption and offer policy implications for promoting green transformation and high-quality development.