Abstract:
While green practices are widely recognized to promote environmental health, the context
of ‘manufacturing enterprises’ green innovation’ (MEGI) and the interplay of factors infu encing such practices have received limited attention in the literature. This study explored
the dominant factors and mechanisms of manufacturing enterprises’ green innovation
practices in China from the lens of the new institutional and the stakeholder theories.
The study utilized hierarchical regression and correlation techniques to analyze dataset
obtained from 214 Chinese manufacturing companies. The results of the study show that:
(1) green innovation normative and green innovation imitation correlate positively with
enterprises’ green practices; (2) both innovative resources and capabilities have a strong
positive correlation with enterprises’ green innovation; (3) pressure from major stakehold ers and secondary stakeholders have a moderate positive efect on green innovation; (4) the
executives’ environmental awareness positively regulates the relationship between green
innovation normative and green imitation pressure, innovative resources, stakeholder pres sure, secondary stakeholder pressure, and enterprise green innovation; and (5) the inter action between enterprise innovation capabilities and executive environmental awareness
has a signifcant negative efect on manufacturing enterprises green innovation initiatives.
Theoretically, the fndings of this study deepen the strand of empirical studies on green
innovation and build a rigorous foundation for the application of the new institutional and
stakeholder theories. The study also profers practical insights for managerial decision making on green innovation.
