Green Exports and Wages: The Role of Service Outsourcing Demonstration City Status in Chinese Firms
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
Published online on April 28, 2026
Abstract
["Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nChina's shift toward a green economy has increased the importance of human capital in sustaining competitive green exports and achieving environmental targets. This study examines the influence of green exports and service outsourcing demonstration city status on human capital development, measured as firm‐level wages, using panel data from Chinese companies over 2007–2016. We hypothesize that firms engaged in green exports enhance human capital through higher salaries, with potential moderation by service outsourcing policies. Employing high‐dimensional fixed effects models, supplemented by instrumental variable techniques and selection correction via the inverse Mills ratio, the analysis reveals a robust positive effect of green exports on wages across baseline estimations and robustness checks, indicating substantial firm‐level investment in skilled labor to meet sustainability demands. In contrast, service outsourcing demonstration city status exhibits no significant direct effect on wages and no significant moderating influence on the green export–wage relationship, suggesting a disconnect between current service outsourcing policies and the human capital requirements of green export sectors. The findings underscore the role of green export activities in driving sustainable wage growth and highlight the need to realign regional policies to better support human capital development in the green economy. Policy implications include targeted incentives for green export firms and reorientation of service outsourcing initiatives to foster synergies between service and green sectors, thereby advancing China's sustainable development goals.\n"]