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The detrimental effects of air pollution on the continuity of corporations attract more and more attention in the economic and financial studies. Prior literature investigates the impact of air pollution on corporate financial performance. This study aims to extend this research area by exploring the role of corporate innovation and happiness as factors that mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution and moderate the relationship between air pollution and financial performance.

This study uses two-step system generalized method of moments models to analyze the data of 200 firms listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange over the period 2009–2022.

The results show that firms located in regions with higher air pollution are more likely to invest in innovation. In addition, firms that are more exposed to air pollution and have investments in research and development (R&D) have less ability to improve their financial performance compared to firms that have no investments in R&D. In a similar vein, although R&D has positive effect on financial performance, this effect diminishes in the presence of higher air pollution. The results also show that happiness has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between air pollution and financial performance.

The findings of this study related to the role of corporate innovation in determining the effect of air pollution on financial performance indicate that the costs of investment in R&D weaken the firm’s ability to mitigate the adverse impact of air pollution on financial performance, which provides important signals to policymakers to concentrate more on supporting investment in corporate innovation by providing the necessary facilities for firms to improve their innovative performance and decrease the costs of investment in innovation.

To the author’s knowledge, this research is the first to explore the influence of happiness on the air pollution–financial performance relationship. In addition, this study differs from most prior ones by examining how responding to air pollution through investment in innovation can moderate the association between air pollution and financial performance.

This study aims to investigate the micro mechanism of macro rheological characteristics for composite modified asphalt.Grey relational analysis (GRA) was used to analyze the correlation between macro rheological indexes and micro infrared spectroscopy indexes.

First, a dynamic shear rheometer and a bending beam rheometer were used to obtain the evaluation indexes of high- and low-temperature rheological characteristics for asphalt (virgin, SBS/styrene butadiene rubber [SBR], SBS/rubber and SBR/rubber) respectively, and its variation rules were analyzed. Subsequently, the infrared spectroscopy test was used to obtain the micro rheological characteristics of asphalt, which were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed, and its variation rules were analyzed. Finally, with the help of GRA, the macro-micro evaluation indexes were correlated, and the improvement efficiency of composite modifiers on asphalt was explored from rheological characteristics.

It was found that the deformation resistance and aging resistance of SBS/rubber composite modified asphalt are relatively good, and the modification effect of composite modifier and virgin asphalt is realized through physical combination, and the rheological characteristics change with the accumulation of functional groups. The correlation between macro rutting factor and micro functional group index is high, and the relationship between macro Burgers model parameters and micro functional group index is also close.

Results reveal the basic principle of inherent-improved synergistic effect for composite modifiers on asphalt and provide a theoretical basis for improving the composite modified asphalt.