External involvement and green product innovation: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty

Abstract

Although the importance of external involvement has been recognized, under what conditions it is more effective is still unclear. To address this research gap, this study explores the moderating roles of three dimensions of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between external involvement and green product innovation based on contingency theory and organizational information processing theory. We examine the research hypotheses employing survey data collected from 198 Chinese manufacturing firms and using hierarchical moderated regression analyses. The results indicate that both customer involvement and supplier involvement have positive effects on green product innovation. Technological uncertainty strengthens the effects of customer involvement and supplier involvement on green product innovation. However, demand uncertainty fails to moderate the relationship between customer involvement and green product innovation, and supply uncertainty fails to moderate the relationship between supplier involvement and green product innovation. This study provides novel and fruitful research avenues for stakeholder involvement and suggests future directions.

Embracing green innovation via green supply chain learning: The moderating role of green technology turbulence

“…In this article, both H4a and H4b are supported. Green customer learning mainly helps to gain knowledge related to the changes of customer demands or expectations, which are beneficial for green innovation (Zhao et al, ). Under high level of green technology turbulence, learning from their customers becomes more important for manufacturers because they need to rapidly meet the demand of changing environment.…”

“…Both the industrial policies and stakeholders' pressures push firms to purse sustainable development, which has brought new concerns and challenges to firms' innovative activities (Du, Zhang, & Feng, ; Lioutas & Charatsari, ). Green innovation, which implies that innovations in products or processes lead the companies to higher levels of environmental sustainability, stands out as an important strategic choice (Chang, ; Jiang, Chai, Shao, & Feng, ; Lin et al, ; Tseng, Wang, Chiu, Geng, & Lin, ; Zhao et al, ). The importance of green innovation in enhancing firm performance has been verified by many previous studies (e.g., Chiou, Chan, Lettice, & Chung, ; Lin, Tan, & Geng, ; Tseng et al, ; Zhao et al, ).…”

Sustainable supply chain management and partner engagement to manage climate change information

“…At the same time, there is significant variation in the way in which firms engage and the extent to which this is underpinned by information processing. Consistent with OIPT, we find that, generally, firms gather, process, and transfer information from and between supply chain partners designed to overcome emerging information asymmetries in the context of climate change, yet there is variation between firms and the extent to which they execute these different stages (Galbraith, ; Tuggle & Gerwin, ; Zhao et al, ). Although Scope 3 indirect emissions data and exposure to supply chain risk factors play a fundamental role as part of these information exchanges, many firms have moved beyond simplistic data gathering and are instead more concerned about managing and utilising the underlying messiness and ambiguity through advanced forms of information processing and transferring (Corner et al, ; Egelhoff, ; Rogers et al, ).…”

“…From an OIPT perspective, information is central to reducing information asymmetry between exchange partners, where asymmetry is characterised by both information uncertainty and information equivocality (Corner, Kinicki, & Keats, ; Egelhoff, ; Rogers, Miller, & Judge, ). Uncertainty is defined by a lack of the appropriate amount and quality of information needed to perform tasks (Galbraith, ; Zhao et al, ). The more uncertainty a firm is exposed to, the more information needs to be gathered and processed to realise a given performance level (Bode, Wagner, Petersen, & Ellram, ).…”

Environmental innovation practices and green product innovation performance: A perspective from organizational climate

“…The concerns of the firms for the environment has made the green product innovation becoming more importance, lots of scholars have investigated the organizational factors that affect green product innovation (Dangelico et al, ; Stucki, Woerter, Arvanitis, Peneder, & Rammer, ; Zhao, Feng, & Shi, ). Studies have examined, market demand, external involvement, legislation, knowledge (Zhao et al, ), interfunctional collaboration (Aschehoug, Boks, & Støren, ; Jabbour, Santos, Fonseca, & Nagano, ), innovation‐oriented learning (De Medeiros et al, ), and creative thinking (Awan, Sroufe, & Kraslawski, ). Although some studies have also considered green innovation, researchers have only recently begun to probe the antecedents of green product innovation performance.…”