Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Innovation as Catalysts for Green Economic Growth: Evidence from 85 Countries

Abstract

This study attempts to empirically explore factors that influence green economic growth using unbalanced panel data from 2011 to 2020 across 85 countries. Unlike existing literature, our research takes a comprehensive approach by exploring various determinants of green economic growth, particularly the roles played by private enterprises (entrepreneurship), national leadership, technological innovations, and other factors in promoting green economic growth. We employ the dynamic panel system generalised method
of moments (GMM) estimator to estimate the relationship between these factors and green economic growth. Our estimated findings show that countries with higher levels of technological innovation, national leadership quality, education, and renewable energy consumption are more likely to promote green economic growth. On the contrary, we find that entrepreneurship can be detrimental to green economic growth. This is primarily because private enterprises are likely to focus on profit, thus prioritising financial revenue over environmental issues. This situation highlights the need for targeted policies that align the activities of private enterprises with sustainable development goals (SDGs). To accelerate the transition toward green economy, policymakers should emphasise the importance of national leadership quality, education, technological advancement, and effective regulatory measures
for private enterprises.