First‐mover advantages in green innovation—Opportunities and threats for financial performance: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract Although the analysis of the relation between green innovative activism and financial performance is a popular topic, the existing literature has rarely addressed the tangible benefits that companies may enjoy if they engage in green innovations more than their competitors. This study tries to fill the above gap on the basis of an empirical analysis of a panel data set of the Standard & Poor's 500 companies over the years 1999–2016. We find that high green innovative activism, measured by patent data, only harms current financial performance when not carried out in conjunction with other types of innovative activism. In addition, we find that being the most active in green innovation in absolute terms results in significant positive lagged gains in stock market valuations. However, too much concentration on green innovation relative to other types of innovative activism has a negative influence on both accounting and stock market performance.