Innovation intensity, creativity enhancement, and eco‐innovation strategy: The roles of customer demand and environmental regulation

Abstract

This study develops a contingency framework to investigate how and when innovation intensity and creativity enhancement affect a firm's eco-innovation strategy by drawing upon the perspectives of the resource-based view and stakeholder theory.This investigation aims to explore whether firms with high innovation intensity and creativity enhancement really pursue eco-innovation strategy. Our examination is based on a sample of 2,126 manufacturing firms. By using a hierarchical regression, the results reveal that the effects of innovation intensity and creativity enhancement on eco-innovation strategy depend on customer demand and environmental regulation. Specifically, customer demand positively moderates the effects of innovation intensity and creativity enhancement on eco-innovation strategy, whereas existing regulation has a weaker effect on the relationship between innovation activities and eco-innovation strategy than that of anticipated regulation.

Green Knowledge Sharing, Stakeholder Pressure, Absorptive Capacity, and Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms

“…Recent studies have started to explore the contextual role of stakeholder pressure in the green knowledge sharing–green innovation link. However, the results diverge largely from one another, revealing a positive effect (Liao & Tsai, ; Tsai & Liao, ) or no effect (Zhu & Zhu & Sarkis, ). The mixed results indicate that even at high levels of stakeholder pressure, green knowledge sharing may not directly contribute to green innovation, suggesting a possible missing link.…”

“…However, some researchers have found that knowledge sharing provides only opportunities to improve green innovation (Chen et al, ; Gebauer et al, ), as the entirely new green knowledge shared from other firms is not necessary to be compatible with a firm's existing knowledge (Wong, ). Although recent studies have started to explore various contingencies of the green knowledge sharing‐green innovation link, for example, knowledge characteristics (Chavez et al, ), environmental turbulence (Song & Yang, ), and institutional pressure (Liao & Tsai, ), limited research has explicitly incorporated the mediation mechanism and investigated the boundary conditions for such a mechanism. We thus explore, for the first time, the mediating mechanism through which a firm can realize the green innovation benefits of green knowledge sharing and the conditions under which this mechanism may work.…”

“…Stakeholder pressure refers to general external pressure exerted by environmental regulations and green customer needs (Dangelico, ; Smith & Crotty, ). Liao and Tsai () suggested that stakeholder pressure consists of two primary sources: environmental regulations, which refer to regulations enacted by governments to protect or improve the environment, and green customer needs, which describe the market demand for green products and services. Stakeholder pressure is identified as an important external contextual factor that influences the performance impacts of green knowledge sharing (Hyatt & Berente, ).…”

“…Stakeholder pressure is identified as an important external contextual factor that influences the performance impacts of green knowledge sharing (Hyatt & Berente, ). However, existing findings are inconsistent, ranging from a positive effect (Liao & Tsai, ; Tsai & Liao, ) to no effect (Zhu & Zhu & Sarkis, ), indicating that the mediating mechanism through which the benefits of green knowledge sharing transform into green innovation remains to be identified.…”

Boundary‐spanning search and firms' green innovation: The moderating role of resource orchestration capability

“…Current research suggests that factors, such as institutional pressures (Lin & Ho, ), environmental regulation (Hojnik & Ruzzier, ; You, Zhang, & Yuan, ; Zhang, Wang, Xue, & Yang, ), stakeholder pressure (Kawai, Strange, & Zucchella, ), external knowledge resources (Arfi, Hikkerova, & Sahut, ; Laursen & Salter, ), big data and environmental ethics (El‐Kassar & Singh, ), and market demands (Mondéjar‐Jiménez, Segarra‐Oña, Peiró‐Signes, Payá‐Martínez, & Sáez‐Martínez, ), influence firms' green innovation. As a complex and costly technological frontier (De Marchi, ; Liao, ), green innovation requires more diversified knowledge resources than traditional innovations (Cainelli, De Marchi, & Grandinetti, ; Martínez‐Ros & Kunapatarawong, ; Pacheco, Alves, & Liboni, ), especially complex technological knowledge and skills for eliminating environmental pollution (Liao & Tsai, ). However, due to insufficient internal knowledge resources, firms have to search for external knowledge to conduct green innovation (Du et al, ).…”