Based on institution theory, resource‐based theory and innovation theory, this study proposes a framework to investigate how institutional pressure affects environmental innovation through the mediating role of knowledge acquisition. In total, 263 firms in the Chinese manufacturing industry were selected as the research sample, and a structural equation model was used to examine the mediating role of knowledge acquisition between regulative pressure, normative pressure, cognitive pressure and the firm's environmental innovation. The results showed that regulative pressure and normative pressure had positive effects on the firm's environmental innovation, whereas the effect of cognitive pressure was not significant. In addition, knowledge acquisition positively promoted environmental innovation, and played a mediating role between regulative pressure, normative pressure and environmental innovation. Finally, this paper provides suggestions for government policy‐makers and managers to promote environmental innovation.

Based on stakeholder and upper‐echelon theories and following the logic of “leadership‐behavior‐performance,” this study constructs a model to investigate the relationships between responsible leadership, managerial discretion, environmental innovation, and firm's environmental performance. This study analyzed a sample of survey responses from 208 manufacturing firms. The results show that the three dimensions of responsible leadership (relationship building, relational governance, and sharing orientation) have a positive effect on incremental environmental innovation; relational governance and sharing orientation have a positive effect on radical environmental innovation; both incremental and radical environmental innovation have a positive effect on a firm's environmental performance; and finally, managerial discretion plays a significant and positive moderating role in the relationships between sharing orientation and incremental and radical environmental innovation, and between relational governance and radical environmental innovation.

As more and more females join boards of directors, their decisions concerning environmental innovation have also become the focus of scholars. Based on the upper echelons theory, feminist caring theory, and social role theory, this study constructed a relationship model between female directors and firms' environmental innovations and chose ownership type as the moderating variable. Selecting 688 listed companies in the Chinese manufacturing industry as the research sample and adopting multiple regression analysis methods, the study found that, when the proportion of female directors on the board of directors increased, the level of a firm's environmental innovation also increased significantly. After female directors were divided into independent and nonindependent directors, we found that female independent directors had a significant effect on the firms' environmental innovations. However, female chairpersons had no significant effect on the firms' environmental innovations. In addition, the effect of female directors and female independent directors on a firm's environmental innovation was stronger for state-owned listed companies.

Seen as an effective way to balance financial and environmental goals, environmental innovation has become a priority for firms. Based on the theory of social capital, this study examined the antecedents of firms' environmental innovations. Selecting environmental scanning as the moderator, this study analyzed the relationship between the three dimensions of social capital and environmental innovation. Two hundred and forty firms in the manufacturing industry were selected as the sample, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0. The results showed that structural and relational capital had a positive effect on environmental innovation, while the impact of cognitive capital was not significant. Environmental scanning played the role of a positive moderator in the relationships between structural capital, relational capital and environmental innovation. Finally, in accordance with the conclusions, this study proposes related managerial implications and points out future research directions.

No abstract