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Sustainable development in Iran post‐sanction: Embracing green innovation by small and medium‐sized enterprises

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  • Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi
  • Bakr Al‐Gamrh
  • Behrooz Gharleghi

Abstract

Embracing green innovation is one of the most common elements for improving the firm's environmental performance. In a business environment with high level of bureaucratic corruption, companies can easily neglect their environmental accountability. Therefore, strong motivations are needed to prompt or force companies to acknowledge their environmental responsibility. To discover which types of companies embrace green practices, this study explored the association between customer relationship orientation—as a part of the firms' culture—and the adoption of green product and process innovation via a mediator, market‐focused learning. Results from two surveys of 224 small and medium‐sized enterprises in Iran post‐sanction (late 2016 and early 2017) showed that the adoption of green product and process innovation is higher among small and medium‐sized enterprises with customer‐oriented corporate culture. In addition, this research verified that market‐focused learning was an underlying mechanism through which customer‐oriented corporate culture was related to the adoption of green product and process innovation. Accordingly, this study identified the extent to which companies' building a “constant relationship with customers” was a suitable way to identify those companies' going green and showing more environmental accountability in a bureaucratic corrupted environment.

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  • Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Bakr Al‐Gamrh & Behrooz Gharleghi, 2020. "Sustainable development in Iran post‐sanction: Embracing green innovation by small and medium‐sized enterprises," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 781-790, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:28:y:2020:i:4:p:781-790
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.2028
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    2. Mohammad Rashed Hasan Polas & Valliappan Raju, 2021. "Technology and Entrepreneurial Marketing Decisions During COVID-19," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 22(2), pages 95-112, June.
    3. Kaveh Asiaei & Ruzita Jusoh & Omid Barani & Arash Asiaei, 2022. "How does green intellectual capital boost performance? The mediating role of environmental performance measurement systems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1587-1606, May.
    4. Meng Li & Zengrui Tian & Qian Liu & Yuzhong Lu, 2022. "Literature Review and Research Prospect on the Drivers and Effects of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.
    5. Sher Jahan Khan & Puneet Kaur & Fauzia Jabeen & Amandeep Dhir, 2021. "Green process innovation: Where we are and where we are going," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3273-3296, November.
    6. Zhang, Zhongqingyang & Zhu, Huiming & Zhou, Zhongbao & Zou, Kai, 2022. "How does innovation matter for sustainable performance? Evidence from small and medium-sized enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 251-265.
    7. Li, Lingjia & Shan, Shuo & Dai, Jing & Che, Wen & Shou, Yongyi, 2022. "The impact of green supply chain management on green innovation: A meta-analysis from the inter-organizational learning perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    8. Zhou, Kuo & Luo, Haotian & Ye, Diyu & Tao, Yunqing, 2022. "The power of anti-corruption in environmental innovation: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).

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