Exploring the linkages of green transformational leadership,organizational green learning,and radical green innovation

Radical green innovation is the necessary way for countries and firms to achieve sustainable development. Although the influencing factors of green innovation have attracted extensive attention, there is little research on the antecedents of radical green innovation. Drawing on organizational learning theory and attention-based view, this study proposes R-I ratio to measure the configuration of exploratory green learning and exploitative green learning, then analyzes the relationships among green transformational leadership, R-I ratio and radical green innovation, and examines the moderating effects of green R&D investment and environmental regulatory pressure. Based on a sample of 243 manufacturing firms in China's strategic emerging industries, the empirical results reveal that green transformational leadership promotes R-I ratio, and R-I ratio has inverted U-shaped relationship with radical green innovation. The results also find that green R&D investment plays U-shaped moderating role in the relationship between green transformational leadership and R-I ratio, and environmental regulatory pressure positively moderates the relationship between green transformational leadership and R-I ratio. The study not only reveals the relationships of green transformational leadership, organizational green learning and radical green innovation, but also provides theoretical guidance and management practice for manufacturing firms and government to promote radical green innovation.     

Green Innovation,Managerial Concern and Firm Performance: An Empirical Study

Extant literature, while often suggesting a positive link between green innovation and firm performance, is inconclusive. Moreover, the possibly moderating role of management has not been sufficiently considered. Using a unique dataset sampling 188 manufacturing firms in China, we examine how managerial concern (for green issues) moderates the relationship between green innovation and firm performance. We find that green process innovation and green product innovation both significantly (positively) predict firm performance, when not considering managerial concern for the environment. Once managerial concern is included, we observe that it compounds the positive effect of green process innovation on firm performance – but not product innovation, which no longer explains significant unique variance in firm performance. The findings hold various implications for future research and business policy. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Green management,firm innovations,and environmental turbulence

The multifaceted nature of firm innovation has prevented researchers from fully explaining the relationship between firm innovation and green management. This study, building on the Schumpeterian theory of innovation, explores this relationship by examining three major types of firm innovation—strategic innovation, managerial innovation, and product innovation—and their respective relationships with green management, considering several dimensions of environmental turbulence as distinctive boundary conditions. We propose that both strategic innovation and managerial innovation facilitate green management, which in turn mediates these effects on new product performance. The results of a survey of 303 Chinese firms provide strong support for this mediating logic. Moreover, we find that market turbulence weakens the effect of strategic innovation on green management whereas technological turbulence strengthens such effect but the effect of managerial innovation on green management is not influenced by environmental turbulence. Our research contributes to the innovation as well as green management and sustainability literatures by offering a framework in which to analyze firm innovation and green management and by showing how firms pursue sustainability and prosperity under specific environmental conditions.     

The moderating role of relational bonding in green supply chain practices and performance

Previous research has paid attention to the effect of green supply chain practices on green innovation performance. However, little has been done to examine the substantive role of relational bonding in green supply chain management context. This study attempts to identify relational bonding as a potential moderator and examines the relationships between green supply chain practices, relational bonding, and green innovation performance. The results indicate that green supply chain practices and relational bonding are positively related to green innovation performance. Relational bonding moderates the relationship between green supply chain practices and green innovation performance. This study makes a contribution by integrating relationship marketing literature and green management literature. This study also provides practical implication for the essential role of relational bonding in green supply chain management.     

CEO hometown identity and firm green innovation

Drawn on the upper echelons theory, this study investigates how chief executive officer (CEO) hometown identity drives firm green innovation. We propose that CEO hometown identity has a positive impact on a firm's green innovation performance. Furthermore, we explore the moderating role of managerial discretion determined by organizational and environmental factors (i.e., institutional ownership and market complexity). We propose that institutional ownership negatively moderates the positive relationship between CEO hometown identity and green innovation, but market complexity plays a positive moderating role. Using Chinese publicly listed firms from 2002 to 2016 in heavily polluting industries, our findings support these hypotheses. Our research contributes to the upper echelons theory and corporate social responsibility literature and has substantial practical implications.     

Environmental Strategy and Competitive Advantage: The Role of Small‐ and Medium‐Sized enterprises' Dynamic Capabilities

Drawing on the resource‐based theory and institutional theory, we develop a framework to explain the processes by which the environmental strategy of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) contributes to their competitive advantage. We test our assumption using data collected from 214 UK‐based SMEs in the technology sector. We find that the effects of environmental strategy can lead to development of their marketing competence, as well as research and development (R&D) competence, which ultimately contributes to superior financial performance. We also find that a reciprocal causal relationship exists between SMEs' marketing and R&D competences. Combined, we reveal the presence of a serial multiple mediation relationship between SMEs' environmental strategy and financial performance through marketing competence and then R&D competence, or vice versa. Our study offers important academic and managerial implications, and also points out future research directions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

管理层过度自信对集群企业协同创新绩效的影响

近年来,关于管理层过度自信在企业创新中的作用受到学界广泛关注,本文重点研究管理层过度自信、多重网络嵌入与集群企业协同创新绩效之间的内在逻辑关系。基于312份集群企业调查问卷发现:管理层过度自信对集群企业协同创新绩效存在复杂影响机制,过度估计和过高定位负向影响协同创新绩效;过度估计通过关系嵌入和知识嵌入影响协同创新绩效,过高定位则通过结构嵌入和知识嵌入影响协同创新绩效;企业动态能力负向调节关系嵌入与协同创新绩效的关系,正向调节结构嵌入和知识嵌入与协同创新绩效的关系。因此,在设计集群企业协同创新机制时,应充分考虑管理层过度自信的非理性影响,引入过度自信评估机制和风险预警机制,提升管理层在协同创新网络中的位置和动态能力建设,从而制约管理层过度自信的潜在风险。     

Sustainable Development Strategies for Product Innovation and Energy Efficiency

The interaction between product innovation and companies’ activities aimed at improving the energy efficiency of production facilities has been relatively little studied, but is of great relevance to society and companies given the strong focus of governments on grand challenges like climate change, green innovation technologies, and environmental problems in general. This paper utilizes the 2009 European Manufacturing Survey for the Danish sub‐sample including 335 manufacturing firms. Through factor analysis, this paper confirms three main areas of focus of new product development: efficiency considerations, market attention, and greening of innovation. Logistic regression analysis demonstrates that while market attention is important for the development of new products, green aspects of innovation and efficiency considerations are important for production companies wanting to improve their energy efficiency. When these models are combined, the results highlight that energy efficiency moderates the effect of market attention to new product development. This paper therefore finds that aligning product innovation and energy efficiency is a complex and intertwined process – focusing on one may have indirect detrimental effects on the other. These results point to the conclusion that researchers and practitioners in innovation management have to consider more carefully the specificities and interactions of different types of products and process innovations and their environmental implications, and must formulate new, more sustainable managerial practices combining energy efficiency and product innovation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Sustaining the sustainable development: How do firms turn government green subsidies into financial performance through green innovation?

The impact of government green subsidies on firms' green innovation behaviors and sustainable development has been recognized in the existing literature, but the deep relationship remains poorly understood. This study aims to examine the mechanism of how government green subsidies influence firms' financial performance via green innovation and how the mediating effect varies under different contingent conditions. Empirical results based on data of Chinese listed companies between 2006 and 2018 reveal that green subsidies have positive effects on green process and product innovation, but only green product innovation can rise higher financial performance, which further verifies that green subsidies positively influence financial performance through green product innovation rather than green process innovation. In addition, both higher absorptive capacity and higher market turbulence strengthen the indirect effect of green subsidies on firms' financial performance via green product innovation. Our study provides useful implications for enterprises by revealing the influence mechanism of green subsidies on financial performance through green innovation under different leveraging levels of internal and external conditions. It also provides basis for the government to formulate relevant environmental policies.     

Utilize structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the influence of corporate environmental ethics: the mediation effect of green human capital

This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the positive effects of corporate environmental ethics on green relationship learning and green innovation performance in the Taiwanese manufacturing industry. In addition, this study explores the concept of green human capital and discusses its mediation effect on the positive relationships between corporate environmental ethics and the two consequents: green relationship learning and green innovation performance. The empirical results show that corporate environmental ethics positively affects green relationship learning and green innovation performance. Furthermore, this study verifies green human capital mediates the positive relationships between corporate environmental ethics and the two consequents: green relationship learning and green innovation performance. Finally, this study divides the Taiwanese manufacturing companies into several different groups, and provides some suggestions to them.     

How Does Open Innovation Modify the Relationship between Environmental Regulations and Productivity?

With increasingly severe environmental regulations, a pressing issue has been the need for firms to develop efficient strategies to achieve environmental protection and high productivity. Several environmental experts argue that firms can respond to environmental regulations through innovation; however, the question of how to innovate is unanswered in the environmental literature. Therefore, this study focuses on the open innovation strategy approach to respond to environmental regulations and maintain high productivity by incorporating the idea of innovation management. We first divide open innovation strategy into two modes of external technology acquisition: foreign and domestic. Next, we examine these modes' mediation effects on environmental regulations and productivity. In addition, we test the moderating effect of internal R&D on the relationship between external technology acquisition and productivity. Using data on 35 Chinese industrial sectors from 2001 to 2010, the empirical findings show that foreign technology significantly and positively mediates the link between environmental regulations and productivity, while domestic technology does not. Internal R&D investment, as an absorptive capacity, positively moderates the effect of foreign technology; however, it negatively moderates the effect of domestic technology on productivity. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Customer green orientation and process innovation alignment: A configuration approach in the global manufacturing industry

Research suggests that manufacturers increasingly innovate processes to meet customer's green requirements; however, little is known about the impact on performance and the contextual conditions, under which they are effective. Grounded on configuration approach, this study develops taxonomies of manufacturing firms based on the degree of customer's green orientation and process innovation. This study argues that performance differences between these clusters, highlight managerial implications for sustainable development. The empirical data used in this study were drawn from Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG) survey project (with data collected from 629 manufacturing firms from nine countries). Our results show that customer green innovation taxonomies influence differently on environmental measures, costs, and financial performance. The study proposes three clusters: Process active, Green minimalist, and Green proactive. The main differences between manufacturers are based on the level of investments in joint green improvement initiatives and customer direct investments in green activities. Firms that belong to the Process active cluster, who are first within the industry to deploy new processes and update the latest process development, gained significant improvement in financial measures such as market share and profits. Whereas Green minimalist cluster lagged behind, Green proactive manufacturers aligned in both capabilities to experience higher payoffs in sustainable performance measures and efficiency. The findings provide a step‐by‐step decision‐making process and offer guidance for supply chain managers who have to stretch their needs to align the innovation processes to enhance their sustainable performance.     

Enhancing green product and process innovation: Towards an integrative framework of knowledge acquisition and environmental investment

Despite the increasing interest in green innovation literature, little is known on how and under what conditions firms' knowledge transfer activities affect green innovation. There is lack of research that on how particular organizational capabilities are seen more useful and how it influences on green innovation performance. To address this research gap, we examine a mediation model in which we explore whether a firm's knowledge acquisition capability and investment in environmental management mediate the impact of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on green product innovation and green process innovation. On the basis of an analysis of a sample of 239 manufacturing firms, we find that buyer-driven knowledge activities have a greater positive impact on green product innovation than green process innovation. Investment in environmental management fully mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green process innovation, and knowledge acquisition capability partially mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green product innovation. The current study provides evidence that internal competencies and the role of buyers in knowledge transfer are critical for explaining the green product innovation and green process innovation. Our results suggest that buyer involvement pushes firms to develop resource acquisition capability to enhance green product innovation. Our results also highlight the importance of investment in environmental management for overcoming the environmental challenges in the manufacturing firms.     

Why does eco‐innovation differ in service firms? Some insights from Spain

Although environmental innovation studies have traditionally focused on manufacturing firms, the distinctive features of eco‐innovation activities carried out by service firms require special attention. Using the Spanish Commumity Innovation Survey (CIS), this paper determines which are the main drivers of undertaking eco‐innovation and investigates the similarities and differences between service and manufacturing firms within the five sub‐groups of services (supplier dominated, scale intensive physical networks, scale intensive information networks, science‐based, and others). The results confirm that the main eco‐innovation triggers are similar—technological push factor orientation (internal R&D and persistence) and firm size—while the impact of market pull factors and public environmental legislation differ within the services sub‐groups. In addition, we find a high degree of heterogeneity within service firms. In contrast to traditional service firms, those in the groups involving R&D activities, information networks, and scale‐intensive physical networks exhibit intensive eco‐innovation performance and show a high level of green indicators.     

Reprint of "The role of state ownership and institutions in the innovation performance of emerging market enterprises: Evidence from China"

Although it has been suggested that institutional context influences a firm's innovation performance, the role of regulatory institutions has been underexplored. Extending previous research, this study investigates whether and how regulatory institutions (i.e. state ownership, region-specific marketization and industry-specific institutional policy) affect innovation performance of emerging market enterprises (EMEs). Evidence derived from a large sample of Chinese manufacturing firms demonstrates that state ownership positively moderates the effect of R&D intensity on innovation performance. However, state ownership is not equally beneficial for all firms. Our analysis shows that region-specific marketization and industry-specific institutional policy enhance the innovation-enhancing effect of state ownership. By revealing the role of regulatory institutions, our study points to the importance of looking beyond firm boundaries to understand why EMEs are able to innovate despite their weak internal capabilities.     

The role of state ownership and institutions in the innovation performance of emerging market enterprises: Evidence from China

Although it has been suggested that institutional context influences a firm's innovation performance, the role of regulatory institutions has been underexplored. Extending previous research, this study investigates whether and how regulatory institutions (i.e. state ownership, region-specific marketization and industry-specific institutional policy) affect innovation performance of emerging market enterprises (EMEs). Evidence derived from a large sample of Chinese manufacturing firms demonstrates that state ownership positively moderates the effect of R&D intensity on innovation performance. However, state ownership is not equally beneficial for all firms. Our analysis shows that region-specific marketization and industry-specific institutional policy enhance the innovation-enhancing effect of state ownership. By revealing the role of regulatory institutions, our study points to the importance of looking beyond firm boundaries to understand why EMEs are able to innovate despite their weak internal capabilities.     

Environmental sustainability engagement of firms: The roles of social capital,resources, and managerial entrepreneurial orientation of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam

How firms in transition economies demonstrate their strategic engagement in sustainable environmental management given their limited resources and capabilities is less understood in the literature. This study explores how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam, an exemplar of a country in transition from a closed and socialist economy to an open and liberal market, draw on their external social capital to access critical resources that are leveraged by the entrepreneurial orientation or capabilities of the firms' top management towards engagement in business-wide environmentally sustainable practices. Drawing on a database of more than 2000 firms from a large-scale survey of firms in Vietnam, this study tests the relationships between two facets of social capital, environmental management resources and environmental sustainability engagement. This study further contends that managerial entrepreneurial orientation moderates by enhancing the strategic utilisation of resources to enable firms in Vietnam to engage in environmental sustainability. The results offer novel theoretical insights and timely managerial or practical implications as well as promising directions for future research on the resources, strategies and capabilities of firms in transition economies.     

绿色信贷制度创新研究——以推动企业生态创新为视角

绿色信贷是绿色金融的重要组成部分,是银行业金融机构履行环境责任的重要途径,然而现行制度在信贷风险分担、长效推动、环境绩效的监督测算等方面都还存在不足。本文在解析绿色信贷和生态创新一致性目标的基础上,以推动企业生态创新的全新视角,构建面向企业生态创新的绿色信贷信用担保授信机制和环境效益监测机制,并针对性地提出不同环境收益下绿色信贷的差异性浮动合同利率管理模式和第三方担保机构的多元业务管理模式,为绿色信贷的制度创新提供建议参考。面向企业生态创新的绿色信贷制度,可在激励企业加大生态创新、提升竞争力的同时,降低绿色信贷的信贷违约风险和环境社会风险,有助于绿色信贷的可持续发展。     

How do firms achieve sustainability through green innovation under external pressures of environmental regulation and market turbulence?

Analyses in the fields of environmental and innovation research have hindered our understanding of the real effects of external drivers of firms' green innovation and sustainability behaviors on financial performance. This study compares the ways in which two different external factors drive firms to be green innovative: environmental regulation and market turbulence. By dividing green innovation into green process innovation and green product innovation, we propose that environmental regulation increases financial performance mainly through green process innovation rather than through green product innovation, and market turbulence affects financial performance mainly through green product innovation rather than through green process innovation. The results of an empirical analysis based on a mediation model and panel data on 472 Chinese listed firms for 2006–2017 lend support to our hypotheses. Our study contributes to the green innovation management and sustainability literature by offering a holistic framework for examining how firms pursue green innovation and sustainability in response to two different forms of external pressure.     

Green human resource management and the enablers of green organisational culture: Enhancing a firm's environmental performance for sustainable development

Scholars have shown that green human resource management (GHRM) practices enhance a firm's environmental performance. However, existing studies fail to explain how GHRM initiatives can enable a green organisational culture or how such a culture affects the environmental performance and sustainable development of the firm. This paper examines the relationship between GHRM practices, the enablers of green organisational culture, and a firm's environmental performance. We conduct a large‐scale survey of 204 employees at Chinese manufacturing firms. Our findings suggest that proenvironmental HRM practices including hiring, training, appraisal, and incentivisation support the development of the enablers of green organisational culture. We suggest the key enablers of green organisational culture include leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement, and employee empowerment. Our paper contributes to HRM theory in terms of originality and utility of research by explaining that the enablers of green organisational culture positively mediate the relationship between GHRM practices and environmental performance. Managers are provided with a detailed understanding of the GHRM practices needed to enable an organisational culture of environmentally aware employees. Finally, we address potential implications of this work for teaching green organisational culture to future generations of responsible managers.