Is green customer integration always a facilitator for green product innovation?: A conflict-based view

Abstract

PurposeAlthough the facilitating role of green customer integration in business-to-business (B2B) markets has been highlighted in some green product innovation literature, analysis of the difficulties it can pose is still an underdeveloped field. This paper extends the conflict-based view and examines the effect of green customer integration on customer–firm conflicts and thereby investigates the influence of conflict on green product innovation.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducts a questionnaire survey. Ordinary Least Square regression and structural equation model with Maximum Likelihood Estimation are applied to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that green customer information integration is positively related to cognitive conflict, whereas green customer process integration has an inverted U-shaped relationship with cognitive conflict and a positive relationship with affective conflict. Moreover, green product innovation is promoted by cognitive conflict and is damaged by affective conflict.Originality/valueThis study highlights the conflict-related factors that play a role in firm–customer collaboration for green product innovation in B2B markets. It also reveals the potential dark side of green customer integration by explicitly delineating its effects on conflicts.