Effects of Green Innovation on Environmental and Corporate Performance: A Stakeholder Perspective

“Going green” has become an important environmental issue in contemporary business practice worldwide. This study examined the influence of a number of factors on green innovation and the consequences in terms of performance. The stakeholder theory was adopted to observe the effects of each stakeholder on the green innovation practices of companies and to determine how green innovation practices influence environmental and business performance. A research model with eight hypotheses was proposed to determine the associations between the variables of interest. An empirical survey was conducted of 202 Taiwanese service and manufacturing companies. The survey found that pressure from competitors and the government, along with employee conduct, all had significant and positive effects on green innovation practices. Additionally, a moderating effect of innovation orientation existed only in the relationship between green product innovation practices and employee conduct. This study not only provides a systematic way to analyze the effects of green innovation practices but also suggests the best means for companies to adopt green innovation practices.

[1]  K. Zhou,et al.  Developing strategic orientation in China: antecedents and consequences of market and innovation orientations , 2005 .

[2]  A. Lievens,et al.  Learning during the new financial service innovation process: Antecedents and performance effects , 2004 .

[3]  D. W. Barclay,et al.  The Effects of Organizational Differences and Trust on the Effectiveness of Selling Partner Relationships , 1997 .

[4]  Mark Cordano,et al.  How do Small and Medium Enterprises Go “Green”? A Study of Environmental Management Programs in the U.S. Wine Industry , 2010 .

[5]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[6]  Petra Christmann,et al.  Globalization and the Environment: Determinants of Firm Self-Regulation in China , 2001 .

[7]  N. Panwar,et al.  Role of renewable energy sources in environmental protection: A review , 2011 .

[8]  Toni M. Somers,et al.  The Role of ERP Implementation in Enabling Digital Options: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis , 2009, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[9]  J. Harrison,et al.  Managing for Stakeholders, Stakeholder Utility Functions, and Competitive Advantage. , 2010 .

[10]  Charles H. Davis,et al.  The earth summit and the promotion of environmentally sound industrial innovation in developing countries , 1995 .

[11]  Kendall Roth,et al.  Why Companies Go Green: A Model of Ecological Responsiveness , 2000 .

[12]  Yanfeng Zhou,et al.  Chinese consumers’ adoption of a ‘green’ innovation – The case of organic food , 2012 .

[13]  Qinghua Zhu,et al.  The moderating effects of institutional pressures on emergent green supply chain practices and performance , 2007 .

[14]  Petra Christmann MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: DETERMINANTS OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY STANDARDIZATION , 2004 .

[15]  Terry S. Overton,et al.  Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys , 1977 .

[16]  B. Daily,et al.  Achieving sustainability through attention to human resource factors in environmental management , 2001 .

[17]  Xianggui Qu,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis , 2007, Technometrics.

[18]  R. Klassen,et al.  Drivers and Enablers That Foster Environmental Management Capabilities in Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Suppliers in Supply Chains , 2008 .

[19]  Chunyan Xie,et al.  Innovative corporate social responsibility: the founder's role in creating a trustworthy corporate brand through “green innovation” , 2010 .

[20]  A. Campbell,et al.  Corporate strategy: The quest for parenting advantage , 1995 .

[21]  D. Rondinelli,et al.  Proactive corporate environmental management: A new industrial revolution , 1998 .

[22]  Daniel Kammerer,et al.  The effects of customer benefit and regulation on environmental product innovation. , 2009 .

[23]  Daniel Kammerer,et al.  Explaining Green Innovation: Ten Years after Porter's Win-Win Proposition: How to Study the Effects of Regulation on Corporate Environmental Innovation? , 2006 .

[24]  P. Papastathopoulou,et al.  An empirically‐based typology of product innovativeness for new financial services: Success and failure scenarios , 2001 .

[25]  Hung-Bin Ding,et al.  Salient stakeholder voices: Family business and green innovation adoption , 2009, Journal of Management & Organization.

[26]  Tomohiro Shishime,et al.  Sustainable Production: Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies , 2012 .

[27]  Frank L. Montabon,et al.  An examination of corporate reporting, environmental management practices and firm performance , 2007 .

[28]  K. Rennings Redefining innovation -- eco-innovation research and the contribution from ecological economics , 2000 .

[29]  Joseph Sarkis,et al.  An empirical evaluation of environmental efficiencies and firm performance: Pollution prevention versus end-of-pipe practice , 2001, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[30]  James J. Cordeiro,et al.  Firm-level correlates of emergent green supply chain management practices in the Chinese context , 2008 .

[31]  George I. Kassinis,et al.  Corporate boards and outside stakeholders as determinants of environmental litigation , 2002 .

[32]  Thomas C. Kinnear,et al.  Ecologically Concerned Consumers: Who are They? , 1974 .

[33]  Pietro De Giovanni,et al.  Do internal and external environmental management contribute to the triple bottom line , 2012 .

[34]  D. Pujari Eco-innovation and new product development: understanding the influences on market performance , 2006 .

[35]  Chieh-Yu Lin,et al.  Determinants of Green Practice Adoption for Logistics Companies in China , 2011 .

[36]  Joseph Sarkis,et al.  Stakeholder pressure and the adoption of environmental practices: The mediating effect of training , 2010 .

[37]  Ruth Stock,et al.  Patterns and performance outcomes of innovation orientation , 2011 .

[38]  Enrique Claver,et al.  Environmental management and firm performance: a case study. , 2007, Journal of environmental management.

[39]  David Langford,et al.  Strategies for managing environmental issues in construction organizations , 2006 .

[40]  Liane Thuvander,et al.  An absorptive capacity model for green innovation and performance in the construction industry , 2009 .

[41]  Maïder Saint Jean,et al.  Sectoral systems of environmental innovation: An application to the French automotive industry , 2009 .

[42]  Ching‐Hsun Chang The Influence of Corporate Environmental Ethics on Competitive Advantage: The Mediation Role of Green Innovation , 2011 .

[43]  Diego Vazquez-Brust,et al.  Environmental protection and financial performance: an empirical analysis in Wales , 2013 .

[44]  Joseph Sarkis,et al.  RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN OPERATIONAL PRACTICES AND PERFORMANCE AMONG EARLY ADOPTERS OF GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN CHINESE MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES , 2004 .

[45]  R. Klassen,et al.  The Impact of Environmental Technologies on Manufacturing Performance , 1999 .

[46]  Tsuyoshi Fujita,et al.  Green supply chain management in leading manufacturers: Case studies in Japanese large companies , 2010 .

[47]  Judy A. Siguaw,et al.  Conceptualizing Innovation Orientation: A Framework for Study and Integration of Innovation Research* , 2006 .

[48]  Reginald A. Litz,et al.  Stakeholder Theory: Reviewing a Theory That Moves Us , 2008 .

[49]  Paul A. Pavlou,et al.  From IT Leveraging Competence to Competitive Advantage in Turbulent Environments: The Case of New Product Development , 2006, Inf. Syst. Res..

[50]  Marcus Wagner,et al.  On the relationship between environmental management, environmental innovation and patenting: Evidence from German manufacturing firms , 2007 .

[51]  C. Herstatt,et al.  Green Innovation in Technology and Innovation Management – An Exploratory Literature Review , 2012 .

[52]  B. Laplante,et al.  Determinants of environmental performance in the Canadian pulp and paper industry: An assessment from inside the industry , 2005 .

[53]  Ronald K. Mitchell,et al.  Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts , 1997 .

[54]  Yu‐Shan Chen The Positive Effect of Green Intellectual Capital on Competitive Advantages of Firms , 2007 .

[55]  A. Verbeke,et al.  Proactive environmental strategies: a stakeholder management perspective , 2003 .

[56]  George J. Avlonitis,et al.  Assessing the importance of the development activities for successful new services: does innovativeness matter? , 2003 .

[57]  L. Backer Engaging Stakeholders in Corporate Environmental Governance , 2007 .

[58]  A. Friedman,et al.  Stakeholders: Theory and Practice , 2006 .

[59]  R. Freeman Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach , 2010 .

[60]  Sandra Rothenberg,et al.  Suppliers and Environmental Innovation: The Automotive Paint Process , 2000 .

[61]  José F. Molina-Azorín,et al.  Complementary Resources and Capabilities for an Ethical and Environmental Management: A Qual/Quan Study , 2008 .

[62]  Perry Sadorsky,et al.  The Determinants of an Environmentally Responsive Firm: An Empirical Approach , 1996 .

[63]  Hung-Tai Tsou,et al.  Co-production and its effects on service innovation , 2011 .

[64]  L. Preston,et al.  The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications , 1995 .

[65]  Chieh-Yu Lin,et al.  AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDERS' INTENTION TO ADOPT GREEN INNOVATIONS , 2008 .

[66]  A. Wicks,et al.  Convergent Stakeholder Theory , 1999 .

[67]  A. Oke Innovation types and innovation management practices in service companies , 2007 .

[68]  Cathy A. Rusinko,et al.  Green Manufacturing: An Evaluation of Environmentally Sustainable Manufacturing Practices and Their Impact on Competitive Outcomes , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[69]  H. Co,et al.  Stakeholder theory and dynamics in supply chain collaboration , 2009 .

[70]  Agis M. Papadopoulos,et al.  Rating systems for counting buildings’ environmental performance , 2007 .

[71]  N. Venkatraman,et al.  On the Measurement of Business Performance in Strategy Research: A Comparison of Approaches , 2015 .

[72]  Lori Rosenkopf,et al.  INSTITUTIONAL AND COMPETITIVE BANDWAGONS: USING MATHEMATICAL MODELING AS A TOOL TO EXPLORE INNOVATION DIFFUSION , 1993 .

[73]  Carolyn P. Egri,et al.  Leadership in the North American Environmental Sector: Values, Leadership Styles, and Contexts of Environmental Leaders and their Organizations , 2000 .

[74]  G. Hult,et al.  Innovation, Market Orientation, and Organizational Learning: An Integration and Empirical Examination , 1998 .

[75]  Mário Raposo,et al.  Stakeholder theory: issues to resolve , 2011 .

[76]  M. Clarkson A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance , 1995 .

[77]  M. Lindell,et al.  Accounting for common method variance in cross-sectional research designs. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[78]  Andreas Zieglera,et al.  Environmental management systems and technological environmental innovations: exploring the causal relationship , 2013, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[79]  G. Tomas,et al.  A Research Agenda for the Nexus of Product Development and Supply Chain Management Processes , 2003 .

[80]  H. Chan,et al.  The influence of greening the suppliers and green innovation on environmental performance and competitive advantage in Taiwan , 2011 .

[81]  C. Garcés‐Ayerbe,et al.  Why do patterns of environmental response differ? A stakeholders' pressure approach , 2008 .

[82]  Wynne W. Chin,et al.  A Partial Least Squares Latent Variable Modeling Approach for Measuring Interaction Effects: Results from a Monte Carlo Simulation Study and an Electronic - Mail Emotion/Adoption Study , 2003, Inf. Syst. Res..

[83]  Yu‐Shan Chen The Driver of Green Innovation and Green Image – Green Core Competence , 2008 .

[84]  S. Zeng,et al.  The drivers for contractors' green innovation: an industry perspective , 2010 .

[85]  Berit Balfors,et al.  Environmental consideration in procurement of construction contracts: current practice, problems and opportunities in green procurement in the Swedish construction industry , 2009 .

[86]  Michael E. Porter,et al.  Green and Competitive : Ending the Stalemate , 1996 .

[87]  K. Tan,et al.  Supply chain drivers that foster the development of green initiatives in an emerging economy , 2013 .

[88]  Daniel Kammerer,et al.  The effects of customer benefit and regulation on environmental product innovation.: Empirical evidence from appliance manufacturers in Germany , 2009 .

[89]  N. Karagozoglu,et al.  Corporate environmental behaviour – a comparison between Nordic and US firms , 2001 .

[90]  Hussein A. Warsame,et al.  Managing Public Impressions: Environmental Disclosures in Annual Reports , 1998 .

[91]  M. Khanna,et al.  Corporate Environmental Management: Regulatory and Market-Based Incentives , 2002, Land Economics.

[92]  Hung-Tai Tsou,et al.  Service Delivery Innovation , 2009 .

[93]  Tamar Frankel [The theory and the practice...]. , 2001, Tijdschrift voor diergeneeskunde.

[94]  Chi Ming Tam,et al.  How environmental management driving forces affect environmental and economic performance of SMEs: a study in the Northern China district , 2011 .

[95]  Yu‐Shan Chen,et al.  The Influence of Green Innovation Performance on Corporate Advantage in Taiwan , 2006 .

[96]  F. Reinhardt Bringing the environment down to earth. , 1999, Harvard business review.

[97]  Jan-Bernd Lohmoller,et al.  The PLS Program System: Latent Variables Path Analysis with Partial Least Squares Estimation. , 1988, Multivariate behavioral research.

[98]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[99]  Shu-hen Chiang,et al.  Organizational determinants of green innovation implementation in the logistics industry , 2009 .