Too hot to be innovative: Examining the relationship between high temperatures and corporate green innovation

A substantial body of literature suggests that climate change-induced extreme weather events, including high temperatures, can affect country-level economic output and growth. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how extreme weather events affect the organizational moves, particularly their responses in the environmental domain, such as corporate green innovation. Building upon the attention-based view, we argue that high temperatures may lead to operational disruptions which require a shift in managerial attention, thereby impeding corporate green innovation. We have substantiated the negative impact of high temperatures on corporate green innovation based on the analysis of a sample of Chinese publicly listed manufacturing firms. Furthermore, we find that the top management team with green or technical backgrounds, two critical sources of informal expertise power, enables firms to redirect their attention and prioritize corporate green innovation, thereby mitigating the negative impact of high temperatures.