Green innovation in family businesses is a significant yet underexplored area of research, particularly with regard to the influence of dynamic succession characteristics on intergenerational inheritance and its impact on innovation. This study, integrating the social-emotional wealth theory (SEW) and the agency theory, examines 505 Chinese listed family firms spanning from 2011 to 2020. Employing the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method, we investigate how intergenerational inheritance affects green innovation investment over time. Our findings reveal that initially, intergenerational transmission tends to inhibit green innovation investment in family businesses; however, this effect diminishes as the intergenerational process unfolds, indicative of the maturation of the second generation. Notably, we observe that a higher education level among second-generation heirs weakens the inhibitory effect of intergenerational inheritance on green innovation investment. This study addresses a gap in green innovation research by considering intergenerational transmission dynamics in family businesses, thus enhancing our understanding of innovation behaviors within this context. By synthesizing SEW and agency theory, this research offers novel insights into the varying impacts of intergenerational inheritance on firm innovation, shedding light on approaches to reconcile the willingness-ability paradox in family business innovation and promoting effective governance of succession processes.

For a greener society, good corporate environmental information disclosure is crucial. This study empirically examines the influence of media attention and state-owned equity, and their interaction on corporate environmental information disclosure by A-share heavily polluting firms in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2015 to 2019. The results show that state-owned equity can improve the level of corporate environmental information disclosure; however, it mainly affects financial environmental information disclosure. Media attention also improves the level of corporate environmental information disclosure, but only for non-financial environmental information. Moreover, media attention and state-owned equity have a certain substitution effect on environmental information disclosure: a higher state-owned equity ratio weakens the positive effect of media attention on environmental information disclosure. To improve environmental information disclosure, the government must clarify disclosure standards to improve the comparability of environmental information. In addition, media and shareholders can fully leverage their external and internal supervisory roles to promote the environmental responsibilities of firms. Our findings can be useful for further promoting corporate environmental information disclosure and developing relevant policies.

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in achieving sustainability goals has garnered attention in academic literature. While AI has been argued to be crucial in addressing circularity challenges, organizations face challenges in configuring a business model. Designing new business calls for insights on how AI can be integrated into value creation and capture mechanisms. There is a lack of clarity on how organizations deploy AI as they transition to circular business model innovation. The purpose of the study is to explore how AI is integrated into organizational processes while adopting circular business models. We conducted online open-ended interviews with 55 participants to explore the potential role of AI in enabling the adoption of circular business models. Our findings have implications for theory building relating to AI business model innovation and provide a novel avenue for further research on business model innovation literature. Building on a natural resource-based view, the findings indicate that while implementing a circular business model is challenging, AI enables organizations to create, transfer, and capture value through resource efficiency and the reuse of resources. As AI technologies continue to evolve, organizations must develop adaptive capabilities to continually explore opportunities. AI enables organizations to reduce costs, develop novel value-creation strategies, and capture opportunities, resulting in improved efficiency. Transitioning to a circular business model requires developing routines, and organizations must adapt existing systems to ensure these systems result in pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. It is important for managers to develop organizational resources and capabilities that enable the development of AI capabilities.