How to Improve Green Innovation Performance: A Conditional Process Analysis

Performance effects of green production capability and technology in manufacturing firms

The proclamation of the sustainable development goals is driving companies to implement protective measures that favour the environment, thereby occupying a strategic place in the creation of green product innovation (GPI). This new management paradigm could be impacting capabilities, techniques, technologies, efficient energy use and green-oriented production policies and systems. Therefore, one of the challenges is to configure green production capabilities (GPC) coordinated with the technology dimension (TECH) because the design of ecological products and their manufacture requires the backup of capabilities and the possible support of green technology. To this effect, this article aims to establish the impact of the association of GPC and TECH on organisational performance. To do so, we test whether the adoption and high implementation of GPC and TECH affect environmental and financial performance. Empirical evidence is supported by the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS), using a sample of 1018 manufacturing companies from seven European countries. Our results show that the adoption of GPC and TECH and their high levels of implementation have a significant impact on environmental and financial performance. Regarding the association between the implementation of GPC and TECH, its contribution to environmental performance but not financial performance is evidenced. Furthermore, at high levels of implementation of this association, there is no significant effect on either environmental or financial performance. These findings drive theoretical and practical implications and provide opportunities for academics, managers and government bodies.

Open Innovation and Sustainable Innovation Performance: The Moderating Role of IP Strategic Planning and IP Operation

In recent years, open innovation and intellectual property rights have become critical factors to gain superior sustainable innovation performance. However, existing literature pays little attention to different open innovation strategies and their interplay with different IP management approaches in improving sustainable innovation performance. Drawing on the contractual/non-contractual view, this study explores how external partnering and external sourcing affect sustainable innovation performance, and the moderating role of IP strategic planning and IP operation. An empirical study is performed based on an innovation survey with one sample of 764 manufacturing firms. The results show that both external partnering and external sourcing can enhance sustainable innovation performance. Moreover, both IP strategic planning and IP operation play a positive moderating role in the relationship between open innovation and sustainable innovation performance. IP operation functions well once firms engage in open innovation, while IP strategic planning functions well when firms are open to some certain extent. This study provides important implications for sustainability research and managerial practice.

How to Embrace Sustainable Performance via Green Learning Orientation: A Moderated Mediating Model

Manufacturing enterprises have realized that organizational learning is conducive to the development of environmental and economic sustainability. However, prior literature has paid less attention to how green learning orientation affects sustainable performance. Based on organizational learning theory, this article constructs a moderated mediating model of the impact of green learning orientation on sustainable performance, using green innovation behavior as the mediating variable and corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the moderating variable. Through the empirical analysis of 193 valid questionnaires from middle and senior managers in Chinese manufacturing enterprises, the results show that green learning orientation positively affects green innovation behavior and sustainable performance, green innovation behavior plays a partial mediating role between green learning orientation and sustainable performance, the relationship between green learning orientation and green innovation behavior depends on CSR, and the mediating effect of green innovation behavior is moderated by CSR. The results provide a theoretical basis and practical implications for promoting green learning and improving sustainable performance of enterprises.

Impact of Environmental Innovation Strategy on Green Competitiveness: Evidence from China

Environmental issues are a significant field in both research and practice. Manufacturing enterprises are adopting sustainable initiatives to achieve efficient resource usage, emissions reduction, energy utilization reduction, and improve waste management. Therefore, drawing on ecological modernization theory (EMT) and knowledge-based theory (KBT), this study proposes a comprehensive framework for the relationships among environmental innovation strategy (EIS), green knowledge sharing (GKS), organizational green learning (OGL), and green competitiveness (GC), through literature review; after, a survey questionnaire method was employed, and multiple-regression method was used for the analysis. The empirical results show that environmental innovation strategy has a positive effect on green competitiveness; the green knowledge sharing and organizational green learning chain mediates the relationship between environmental innovation strategy and green competitiveness. The results further reveal that green knowledge sharing and organizational green learning are crucial paths for manufacturing enterprises to enhance green competitiveness in implementing their environmental innovation strategies. This study extends previous research by emphasizing the importance of environmental innovation strategy in the context of sustainable development, and enriches existing research related to green competitiveness.