The Mediating Role of Firm Strategy in the Relationship between Green Entrepreneurship, Green Innovation, and Competitive Advantage: The Case of Medium and Large-Sized Firms in Greece

Moderating role of policy incentive and perceived cost in relationship of environmental awareness and green consumption behavior

Over time, environmental concerns have gained much importance and main debatable issue. Green products are becoming popular due to their positive impact on environment and their role in the green economy. However, the significance of environmental awareness, perceived cost, face culture and policy incentives on green consumption behavior is not fully examined in prior research. This research aimed to analyze the various dimensions impacting behavior regarding green consumption in China. Moreover, the moderating impact of policy incentives, perceived cost, and face culture is also explored. An internet-based survey was undertaken and findings indicate that environmental awareness serves as foundation for eco-friendly consumption. The transition from awareness to action is influenced by various factors. Among these, the perceived cost by consumers represents a significant barrier to green consumption, while face culture has a significant impact in encouraging green consumption. Interestingly, policy incentives do not exhibit any notable direct effect or moderating influence on green consumption practices of consumers.

Does green innovation facilitate firms' access to trade credit?

Employing a large sample of Chinese firms, this study examined the influence of corporate green innovation on firms' access to trade credit. The results indicated a positive association between green innovation and firms' capability to access trade credit, suggesting that suppliers value firms' green innovation capabilities. This relationship was strengthened after the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law (EPL) in 2015, which enhanced the value of green innovation. The findings remained robust to several robustness tests. The results suggest that green innovation helps firms access trade credit through better environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and more state subsidy channels and plays a more pronounced role for financially constrained firms, non-state-owned enterprises, firms with lower bargaining power, and firms located in regions with better intellectual property rights protections. Green innovation is valuable for future corporate growth and shareholder value. Overall, this study reveals the value of green innovation through informal corporate financing.

Measuring the impact of corporate social responsibility in the energy sector

Energy companies are in the spotlight regarding the environmental pressure to address the current environmental issues by initiating the sets of social responsibilities. Energy sector companies are actively adopting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices to address the increased pressure and enablement to manage and prevent the risks of environmental impact at the same time concentrating on the economic growth. The current study provides a systematic literature review identifying CSR initiative measures towards sustainability and proposes a framework of CSR measurements in the energy sector. The framework combines the Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis (SALSA) method together with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and PSALSAR (Protocol, Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, Analysis and Report). Moreover, for setting the research scope, PICOC (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Context) is applied. As a result, eleven CSR measures for the energy sector were identified. The measurements were classified into 4 pillars: environmental pillar, stakeholder communication and external image, financial pillar, and organizational pillar. The environmental impact and GHG reduction align with the ecological modernization theories. Green energy innovations find theoretical resonance in the diffusion of innovation theories. Stakeholder engagement and branding link to the stakeholder theory, while financial performance, to the shareholder value theories. Occupational health and safety theory support the employee safety and corporate culture considerations. These measures, selected through theoretical lenses and systematic review, contribute to shaping a sustainable energy landscape. Furthermore, the research results were discussed, and the future research agenda together with policy recommendations were provided.

Why green absorptive capacity and managerial environmental concerns matter for corporate environmental entrepreneurship?

Balancing environmental sustainability and green business growth is one of the primary goals of corporate environmental entrepreneurship, while green entrepreneurship orientation (GEO) represents balanced approaches to maximize green business value-added and maintain environmental performance (EP). Green innovation (GI) strengthens green business efficiencies and drives GEO achievements. Building on the natural resource-based view (NRBV) and dynamic capability view (DCV), this research addressed the critical role of GEO and GI on EP. In addition, the effect of green absorptive capacity (GAC) and managerial environmental concern (MEC) on EP is estimated. The results indicated that GEO significantly affects MEC and GI. While GI positively influences MEC, the relationship between GI and GAC was insignificant. Additionally, GAC and MEC positively and greatly influenced EP. As GAC partially mediates the effect of GEO and GI on EP, MEC also partly mediates the relationship between GI and EP. In the context of the environment, this study presents three quantitative achievements, namely (1) it confirms the vital role of green dynamic capabilities such as GAC to balance GEO's green business agenda and maintain environmental performance, (2) GAC converts knowledge creation to knowledge applications focusing on the development of eco-friendly products and processes to reduce environmental pollution, and (3) MEC determine and focus on GI core competencies to support GEO strategies, (4) GAC level up firms green dynamic capabilities to the level of GEO, and thus maintaining ecosystem and eco-business sustainability. In light of the study outcomes, theoretical and managerial implications were highlighted.

Implementation effect of China's green finance pilot policy based on synthetic control method: a green innovation perspective

In order to develop green finance and realize the coordinated development of the environment and economy, China established green finance reform and innovation pilot zones in 2017. Green innovation has problems such as low financing utilization rate and lack of market competitiveness. The green finance pilot policies (GFPP) based on government management provide solutions to these problems. It is of great significance to measure and provide feedback on the implementation effect of GFPP in China for policy-making and green development. This article focuses on the influence of the construction of GFPP by using the five pilot zones as the study area and constructs the green innovation level indicator. Based on the synthetic control method, it chooses provinces that do not carry out the pilot policy as a control group. After that, assign weights to the control region to fit a synthetic control group with resembling characteristics to simulate the five pilot provinces without implementing the policy. Then, compare it with its current policy effect and highlight the policy implementation effect on green innovation. The placebo test and robustness test were conducted to prove the reliability of the conclusions. The results show that since the implementation of GFPP, the level of green innovation in the five pilot cities has shown an overall rising trend. Furthermore, we found that the balance of credit and investment in science and technology has a negative moderating effect on the implementation of GFPP, while the per capita GDP has a significant positive moderating effect.

Study on the Spatial and Temporal Evolution Patterns of Green Innovation Efficiency and Driving Factors in Three Major Urban Agglomerations in China—Based on the Perspective of Economic Geography

Sustainable development has become a global consensus, and green innovation is the key starting point, and it has become a ballast stone and stabilizer for regional ecological environmental protection and high-quality economic development. Based on GIS tools and multi-method models, this paper studies the spatio-temporal characteristics and influence mechanism of green innovation in three major urban agglomerations in China from 2010 to 2019 from the perspective of economic geography. The study found that: (1) the green innovation efficiency of the three major urban agglomerations in China is in a fluctuating upward trend as a whole, with obvious spatial disequilibrium; (2) from the spatial point of view, the characteristics of global spatial agglomeration distribution have positive spatial correlation, and the law of local spatial autocorrelation is obvious, and the spatio-temporal pattern transitions from “low efficiency, big difference” to “high efficiency, small difference” during the study period; (3) there are obvious spatial spillover and diffusion effects on the green innovation efficiency of the three major urban agglomerations in China as a whole. However, the spatial dependence of green innovation efficiency is inconsistent in China’s three major urban agglomerations; the YRD Urban region and the PRD Urban region show a positive impact, while the JJJ Urban region shows a negative impact; (4) the level of economic development, the operating environment of science and technology, and the guiding factors of government system function with significant differences and regional spatial heterogeneity on the efficiency of green innovation in the three major urban agglomerations in China.

Green Innovation’s Promoting Impact on the Fusion of Industry and Talent: The Case of Pharmaceutical Industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China

This study aims to explore the promoting impact of green innovation on the fusion of industry and talent (FIT). The primary objectives of the study also include showing how FIT affects the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China and evaluating the development status of three subsystems: the pharmaceutical industry, talent support, and green innovation. In this study, an index system comprising 28 indicators is established to characterize the three subsystems, based on which a comprehensive evaluation model is used to assess the development of each subsystem. A fusion model is used to explore the current status of FIT and the role that green innovation plays in this, based on panel data obtained for 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2010 to 2019. The results suggest that: (1) the three subsystems in the Belt have all maintained growth, though the development score for the pharmaceutical industry fluctuated greatly and has been somewhat unstable, while growth trends for talent support and green innovation have been stable; (2) the extent of FIT is low, with nearly half of the provinces and cities lacking organization, with a typical spatial pattern of higher levels in the downstream region and lower levels in the upstream region. The downstream region has obvious advantages in the degree of FIT, while the upstream region has a more optimistic growth trend; and (3) green innovation stimulated the development of FIT in the Belt, with a “strong and stronger” trend depending on the foundation of FIT. To promote FIT, the government should (1) focus on enhancing the development and efficiency of green innovation to help promote FIT; (2) promote the stable and sustainable growth of the pharmaceutical industry as well as talent’s support to consolidate the foundation of fusion; and (3) implement regional coordinated development and interaction policies to narrow the regional gap.