Corporate Environmental Protection Behavior and Sustainable Development: The Moderating Role of Green Investors and Green Executive Cognition

Faced with serious environmental problems, companies have become important participants in environmental protection efforts. By assuming environmental responsibilities and pursuing environmental protection, enterprises can create a good image, gain public and government support, and expand their influence. Simultaneously, green executive cognition and green investors play important roles in enterprises and the market economy. This study examines whether the environmental protection behavior of enterprises has a positive impact on their sustainable development, and how green investors and green executive cognition affect the relationship between environmental protection and sustainable development. This study adopts a fixed effects regression method to research Chinese A-share listed companies in 2011–2020. The results show that enterprises’ performance regarding environmental responsibilities or investment promotes sustainable development. The higher the participation of green investors or the higher the awareness of green executives, the more the environmental responsibility performance and environmental investment promote enterprises’ sustainable development. This study enriches the literature on the environmental protection behavior of enterprises and the sustainable development of enterprises as well as provides a theoretical foundation for related research. Moreover, the role of green investors and green executive cognition in promoting environmental protection and the sustainable development of enterprises will inspire investors and executives.