Do natural environmental protection, regional innovation climate, entrepreneurs’ cognition of green development positively influence the sustainable development of small rural businesses

Xingpeng Zheng, Jacquline Tham, Ali Khatibi · 2025 · PLoS ONE

Summary. A study of 439 rural entrepreneurs across 17 Chinese provinces found that environmental protection alone does not drive sustainable development in small rural businesses. Instead, a supportive regional innovation climate and entrepreneurs' understanding of green development significantly boost sustainability. Technological innovation partially mediates these relationships. The findings challenge assumptions about environmental regulation's direct impact and offer guidance for developing countries pursuing green rural transitions.

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@article{zheng-2025-do-natural-environmental-protection-regional,
  title   = {Do natural environmental protection, regional innovation climate, entrepreneurs’ cognition of green development positively influence the sustainable development of small rural businesses},
  author  = {Xingpeng Zheng and Jacquline Tham and Ali Khatibi},
  journal = {PLoS ONE},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1371/journal.pone.0332897},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0332897}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Do natural environmental protection, regional innovation climate, entrepreneurs’ cognition of green development positively influence the sustainable development of small rural businesses
AU  - Xingpeng Zheng
AU  - Jacquline Tham
AU  - Ali Khatibi
JO  - PLoS ONE
PY  - 2025
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pone.0332897
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0332897
ER  - 

Details

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0332897

Countries

China

Regions

Asia

Categories

climate-and-environment, entrepreneurship, regional-innovation-systems

Added

2026-04-28