IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i5p2588-d511079.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Firm Growth as a Driver of Sustainable Product Innovation: Mediation and Moderation Analysis. Evidence from Manufacturing Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Labella-Fernández

    (Department of Business and Economics, University of Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain)

  • M. Mar Serrano-Arcos

    (Department of Business and Economics, University of Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain)

  • Belén Payán-Sánchez

    (Department of Business and Economics, University of Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain)

Abstract

Facing worldwide environmental and social concerns, manufacturing firms are trying to adopt effective environmentally friendly actions to mitigate their environmental impacts. Although the existent literature has provided many insights about the drivers of sustainable product innovation, little is known about the impact of firm growth. Thus, we intend to contribute to this gap in the literature by examining the impact that firm growth can have on sustainable product innovation. To achieve this goal, the partial least square (PLS) modeling technique was used to analyze a dataset of 3250 manufacturing firms from 39 different countries. The results reveal that firm growth exerts a positive effect on sustainable product innovation and that the relationship is partially mediated by the adoption of environmental practices. The findings also indicate that managerial barriers lessen the effectiveness of the adoption of environmental practices in facilitating the development of sustainable product innovation, while improving labor conditions increases it. However, operational barriers do not exert a significant moderating effect between the adoption of environmental practices and sustainable product innovation. These results prompt interesting insights related to theory development in environmental management and sustainable product innovation research.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Labella-Fernández & M. Mar Serrano-Arcos & Belén Payán-Sánchez, 2021. "Firm Growth as a Driver of Sustainable Product Innovation: Mediation and Moderation Analysis. Evidence from Manufacturing Firms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-22, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2588-:d:511079
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2588/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2588/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brouhle, Keith & Khanna, Madhu, 2012. "Determinants of participation versus consumption in the Nordic Swan eco-labeled market," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 142-151.
    2. Adrián Rabadán & Ángela Triguero & Ángela Gonzalez-Moreno, 2020. "Cooperation as the Secret Ingredient in the Recipe to Foster Internal Technological Eco-Innovation in the Agri-Food Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Rehman, Shafique Ur & Kraus, Sascha & Shah, Syed Asim & Khanin, Dmitry & Mahto, Raj V., 2021. "Analyzing the relationship between green innovation and environmental performance in large manufacturing firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    4. Lucía Muñoz-Pascual & Carla Curado & Jesús Galende, 2019. "The Triple Bottom Line on Sustainable Product Innovation Performance in SMEs: A Mixed Methods Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-22, March.
    5. Schrettle, Stefan & Hinz, Andreas & Scherrer -Rathje, Maike & Friedli, Thomas, 2014. "Turning sustainability into action: Explaining firms' sustainability efforts and their impact on firm performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PA), pages 73-84.
    6. Seung‐Kyu Rhee & Su‐Yol Lee, 2003. "Dynamic change of corporate environmental strategy: rhetoric and reality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 175-190, May.
    7. Beise, Marian & Rennings, Klaus, 2005. "Lead markets and regulation: a framework for analyzing the international diffusion of environmental innovations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 5-17, January.
    8. Yu-Shan Chen, 2008. "The Driver of Green Innovation and Green Image – Green Core Competence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 531-543, September.
    9. Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2016. "Green Product Innovation: Where we are and Where we are Going," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(8), pages 560-576, December.
    10. Jasneet Kaur & Ramneet Sidhu & Anjali Awasthi & Satyaveer Chauhan & Suresh Goyal, 2018. "A DEMATEL based approach for investigating barriers in green supply chain management in Canadian manufacturing firms," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1-2), pages 312-332, January.
    11. Mark P. Sharfman & Teresa M. Shaft & Robert P. Anex, 2009. "The road to cooperative supply‐chain environmental management: trust and uncertainty among pro‐active firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, January.
    12. Najah Attig & Narjess Boubakri & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami, 2016. "Firm Internationalization and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 171-197, March.
    13. Liu, Yong, 2014. "Barriers to the adoption of low carbon production: A multiple-case study of Chinese industrial firms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 412-421.
    14. Govindan, Kannan & Kaliyan, Mathiyazhagan & Kannan, Devika & Haq, A.N., 2014. "Barriers analysis for green supply chain management implementation in Indian industries using analytic hierarchy process," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 555-568.
    15. Esteban Lafuente & Yancy Vaillant & Juan Carlos Leiva, 2018. "Sustainable and Traditional Product Innovation without Scale and Experience, but Only for KIBS!," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    16. Catherine Liston-Heyes & Diego Alfonso Vazquez Brust, 2016. "Environmental Protection in Environmentally Reactive Firms: Lessons from Corporate Argentina," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 361-379, May.
    17. Sadaat Ali Yawar & Stefan Seuring, 2017. "Management of Social Issues in Supply Chains: A Literature Review Exploring Social Issues, Actions and Performance Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 621-643, March.
    18. Chungwon Woo & Yanghon Chung & Dongphil Chun & Seunghun Han & Dukhee Lee, 2014. "Impact of Green Innovation on Labor Productivity and its Determinants: an Analysis of the Korean Manufacturing Industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(8), pages 567-576, December.
    19. Elisabeth Albertini, 2013. "Does Environmental Management Improve Financial Performance? A Meta-Analytical Review," Post-Print halshs-01887802, HAL.
    20. Xie, Xuemei & Huo, Jiage & Zou, Hailiang, 2019. "Green process innovation, green product innovation, and corporate financial performance: A content analysis method," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 697-706.
    21. Rehfeld, Katharina-Maria & Rennings, Klaus & Ziegler, Andreas, 2007. "Integrated product policy and environmental product innovations: An empirical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 91-100, February.
    22. Yu-Shan Chen, 2008. "The Positive Effect of Green Intellectual Capital on Competitive Advantages of Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(3), pages 271-286, February.
    23. Jilde Garst & Vincent Blok & Léon Jansen & Onno S. W. F. Omta, 2017. "Responsibility versus Profit: The Motives of Food Firms for Healthy Product Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-29, December.
    24. Yalabik, Baris & Fairchild, Richard J., 2011. "Customer, regulatory, and competitive pressure as drivers of environmental innovation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(2), pages 519-527, June.
    25. Binswanger, Mathias, 2001. "Technological progress and sustainable development: what about the rebound effect?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 119-132, January.
    26. Pelin Demirel & Gamze Ozturk Danisman, 2019. "Eco‐innovation and firm growth in the circular economy: Evidence from European small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 1608-1618, December.
    27. Kenneth De Roeck & Omer Farooq, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Leadership: Investigating Their Interactive Effect on Employees’ Socially Responsible Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 923-939, September.
    28. Dai, Jing & Montabon, Frank L. & Cantor, David E., 2014. "Linking rival and stakeholder pressure to green supply management: Mediating role of top management support," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 173-187.
    29. Concepción Garcés-Ayerbe & Pilar Rivera-Torres & Inés Suárez-Perales & Dante I. Leyva-de la Hiz, 2019. "Is It Possible to Change from a Linear to a Circular Economy? An Overview of Opportunities and Barriers for European Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, March.
    30. Xue-Zhou Zhao & Jun Chen & Feng-Wen Chen & Wei Wang & Senmao Xia, 2020. "How High-Polluting Firms Suffer from Being Distracted form Intended Purpose: A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-29, December.
    31. Qinghua Zhu & Joseph Sarkis & Kee‐hung Lai & Yong Geng, 2008. "The role of organizational size in the adoption of green supply chain management practices in China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(6), pages 322-337, November.
    32. Neil A. Morgan & Douglas W. Vorhies & Charlotte H. Mason, 2009. "Market orientation, marketing capabilities, and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 909-920, August.
    33. Tariq, Adeel & Badir, Yuosre F. & Tariq, Waqas & Bhutta, Umair Saeed, 2017. "Drivers and consequences of green product and process innovation: A systematic review, conceptual framework, and future outlook," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 8-23.
    34. Elisenda Jové‐Llopis & Agustí Segarra‐Blasco, 2018. "Eco‐innovation strategies: A panel data analysis of Spanish manufacturing firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1209-1220, December.
    35. Chiou, Tzu-Yun & Chan, Hing Kai & Lettice, Fiona & Chung, Sai Ho, 2011. "The influence of greening the suppliers and green innovation on environmental performance and competitive advantage in Taiwan," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 822-836.
    36. Werner Bönte & Christian Dienes, 2013. "Environmental Innovations and Strategies for the Development of New Production Technologies: Empirical Evidence from Europe," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(8), pages 501-516, December.
    37. Mansoora Ahmed & Sun Zehou & Syed Ali Raza & Muhammad Asif Qureshi & Sara Qamar Yousufi, 2020. "Impact of CSR and environmental triggers on employee green behavior: The mediating effect of employee well‐being," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2225-2239, September.
    38. Yuan Ma & Qiyue Yin & Yajun Pan & Wei Cui & Baogui Xin & Ziqian Rao, 2018. "Green Product Innovation and Firm Performance: Assessing the Moderating Effect of Novelty-Centered and Efficiency-Centered Business Model Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-13, June.
    39. Elisha Temminck & Kathryn Mearns & Laura Fruhen, 2015. "Motivating Employees towards Sustainable Behaviour," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 402-412, September.
    40. Muhammad Fazal Ijaz & Jongtae Rhee, 2018. "Constituents and Consequences of Online-Shopping in Sustainable E-Business: An Experimental Study of Online-Shopping Malls," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-24, October.
    41. Francesca Bassi & José G. Dias, 2020. "Sustainable development of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises in the European Union: A taxonomy of circular economy practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2528-2541, September.
    42. Joana Costa, 2021. "Carrots or Sticks: Which Policies Matter the Most in Sustainable Resource Management?," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    43. Klaus Rennings & Christian Rammer, 2011. "The Impact of Regulation-Driven Environmental Innovation on Innovation Success and Firm Performance," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 255-283.
    44. Clemens, Bruce, 2006. "Economic incentives and small firms: Does it pay to be green?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 492-500, April.
    45. X. H. Meng & S. X. Zeng & X. M. Xie & G. Y. Qi, 2016. "The impact of product market competition on corporate environmental responsibility," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 267-291, March.
    46. Doran, Justin & Ryan, Geraldine, 2012. "Regulation and Firm Perception, Eco-Innovation and Firm Performance," MPRA Paper 44578, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    47. Horbach, Jens, 2008. "Determinants of environmental innovation--New evidence from German panel data sources," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 163-173, February.
    48. Rajan Varadarajan, 2017. "Innovating for sustainability: a framework for sustainable innovations and a model of sustainable innovations orientation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 14-36, January.
    49. Kesidou, Effie & Demirel, Pelin, 2012. "On the drivers of eco-innovations: Empirical evidence from the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 862-870.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yuan Ma & Jing Wang & Yifan Bai, 2023. "Macro-Institutional Pressures and Firms’ Environmental Management Behavior: The Moderating Effect of Micro-Institutional Pressures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tariq, Adeel & Badir, Yuosre F. & Tariq, Waqas & Bhutta, Umair Saeed, 2017. "Drivers and consequences of green product and process innovation: A systematic review, conceptual framework, and future outlook," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 8-23.
    2. Jana Hojnik, 2017. "In Pursuit of Eco-innovation," UPP Monograph Series, University of Primorska Press, number 978-961-7023-53-4.
    3. Eduardo Duque‐Grisales & Javier Aguilera‐Caracuel & Jaime Guerrero‐Villegas & Encarnación García‐Sánchez, 2020. "Does green innovation affect the financial performance of Multilatinas? The moderating role of ISO 14001 and R&D investment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3286-3302, December.
    4. Janine Fleith Medeiros & Gabriel Vidor & José Luís Duarte Ribeiro, 2018. "Driving Factors for the Success of the Green Innovation Market: A Relationship System Proposal," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 327-341, January.
    5. Gotsch, Matthias & Kelnhofer, Anton & Jäger, Angela, 2019. "Environmental product innovations and the digital transformation of production: Analysing the influence that digitalising production has on generating environmental product innovations," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S07/2019, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    6. Feng Zhang & Lei Zhu, 2019. "Enhancing corporate sustainable development: Stakeholder pressures, organizational learning, and green innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1012-1026, September.
    7. Caroline Mothe & Uyen T. Nguyen-Thi & Ángela Triguero, 2018. "Innovative products and services with environmental benefits: design of search strategies for external knowledge and absorptive capacity," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(11), pages 1934-1954, September.
    8. Peiró-Signes, Ángel & Segarra-Oña, Marival & Trull-Domínguez, Óscar & Sánchez-Planelles, Joaquín, 2022. "Exposing the ideal combination of endogenous–exogenous drivers for companies’ ecoinnovative orientation: Results from machine-learning methods," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Pinget, Amandine, 2016. "Spécificités des déterminants des innovations environnementales : une approche appliquée aux PME [Specificities of determinants for environmental innovation : an approach applied to SMEs]," MPRA Paper 80108, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Durán-Romero, Gemma & López, Ana M. & Beliaeva, Tatiana & Ferasso, Marcos & Garonne, Christophe & Jones, Paul, 2020. "Bridging the gap between circular economy and climate change mitigation policies through eco-innovations and Quintuple Helix Model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    11. Joana Costa, 2021. "Carrots or Sticks: Which Policies Matter the Most in Sustainable Resource Management?," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    12. Sanni, Maruf, 2018. "Drivers of eco-innovation in the manufacturing sector of Nigeria," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 303-314.
    13. García-Granero, Eva M. & Piedra-Muñoz, Laura & Galdeano-Gómez, Emilio, 2020. "Measuring eco-innovation dimensions: The role of environmental corporate culture and commercial orientation," MPRA Paper 119909, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Yu Zhang & Yajuan Wang, 2022. "Do Managerial Ties Help or Hinder Corporate Green Innovation? The Moderating Roles of Contextual Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-19, March.
    15. Alexandra Rese & Anke Kutschke & Daniel Baier, 2016. "Analyzing The Relative Influence Of Supply Side, Demand Side And Regulatory Factors On The Success Of Collaborative Energy Innovation Projects," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(02), pages 1-43, February.
    16. Ayça Kubra Hizarci‐Payne & İlayda İpek & Gülüzar Kurt Gümüş, 2021. "How environmental innovation influences firm performance: A meta‐analytic review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1174-1190, February.
    17. Cherrafi, Anass & Garza-Reyes, Jose Arturo & Kumar, Vikas & Mishra, Nishikant & Ghobadian, Abby & Elfezazi, Said, 2018. "Lean, green practices and process innovation: A model for green supply chain performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 79-92.
    18. Morteza Akbari & Hamid Padash & Zahra Shahabaldini Parizi & Haniye Rezaei & Elmira Shahriari & Ala Khosravani, 2022. "A bibliometric review of green innovation research: identifying knowledge domain and network," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 3993-4023, December.
    19. Nikolaos S. Trevlopoulos & Thomas A. Tsalis & Konstantinos I. Evangelinos & Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis & Konstantinos I. Vatalis & Ioannis E. Nikolaou, 2021. "The influence of environmental regulations on business innovation, intellectual capital, environmental and economic performance," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 163-178, March.
    20. Giovanni Ferri & Marco Pini, 2019. "Environmental vs. Social Responsibility in the Firm. Evidence from Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-20, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2588-:d:511079. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.