4.2.2. Moderation Effect Test

Table 5 shows the regression results of the moderating effect of media attention and board independence. Columns (1)–(2) show the results of the moderating effect of media attention, and columns (3)–(4) show the results of the moderating effect of board independence. Models (1) and (2) introduce the moderating terms hbbjdum × MA and lnhbbj × MA for media attention to test whether media attention has a significant linear moderating effect. The regression results show that the coefficients of the interaction terms hbbjdum × MA and lnhbbj × MA are 0.047 and 0.042, respectively, and are significant at the 1% level, indicating that there is a significant linear moderating effect of media attention, suggesting that the positive relationship between executives' environmental protection background and green innovation is strengthened when the media attention is greater. Therefore, Hypothesis 2 of this study is supported. Models (3) and (4) introduce the firstorder moderators of director independence, hbbjdum × BI and lnhbbj × BI, to test whether there is a significant linear moderating effect of director independence. The regression results show that the coefficients of the interaction terms hbbjdum × BI and lnhbbj × BI are 0.308 and 0.309, respectively, and significant at the 1% level, indicating that there is a significant linear moderating effect of board independence. When board independence is higher, the positive relationship between executive environmental protection background and green innovation is strengthened. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 of this study is supported.

**Table 5.** The moderating effect result of media attention and board independence.




Notes: \* *p* < 0.1, \*\* *p* < 0.05, \*\*\* *p* < 0.01.

#### 4.2.3. Endogeneity Test

2SLS regression method. This study assesses the relationship between the hiring of executives with environmental protection backgrounds and green innovation, which may be interfered with by endogeneity issues, as listed firms with green innovation may hire more executives with environmental protection backgrounds to meet the decision-making needs of green innovation, thus creating endogeneity issues caused by reverse causality. In this study, the number of pollution incidents (IV) reported on news websites or government websites in the city where the core executives are from is used as an instrumental variable for the environmental protection background of executives, where the core executives include the chairman, vice chairman, president, general manager, and deputy general manager of the firm, and the core executives have power to choose the personnel of the firm. On the one hand, based on the executives' hometown complex, core executives tend to be concerned about pollution incidents in their hometown, which may lead them to take environmental precautionary measures for companies and motivate them to engage in green business practices, such as hiring more executives with environmental protection backgrounds to manage companies. On the other hand, pollution events in the cities where the core executives are based can only influence the strategic decisions by affecting the personal behavior of the core executives, while environmental events in the cities where the core executives are based do not directly influence the green innovation decisions, in line with the hypothesis of correlation and exogeneity of the instrumental variables.

Table 6 reports the results of using the instrumental variable (IV) to test the influence of executives from environmental protection backgrounds on green investors. Columns (1) and (3) show the results of the first-stage regressions with IV estimated coefficients of 0.053 and 0.045, and are positive at the 1% level, indicating that there is a significant positive relationship between the occurrence of pollution incidents in the executive's place of origin and the corporate's hiring of executives with environmental protection backgrounds, consistent with theoretical expectations. Columns (2) and (4) show the results of the second-stage regression, and the results show that the effects of hiring executives with environmental protection background on green innovation are both significantly positive at the 5% level under the two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation, which indicates the robustness of the results.


**Table 6.** 2SLS regression method result.

Notes: \* *p* < 0.1, \*\* *p* < 0.05, \*\*\* *p* < 0.01.
