Impact of Environmental Innovation Strategy on Green Competitiveness: Evidence from China

Abstract

Environmental issues are a significant field in both research and practice. Manufacturing enterprises are adopting sustainable initiatives to achieve efficient resource usage, emissions reduction, energy utilization reduction, and improve waste management. Therefore, drawing on ecological modernization theory (EMT) and knowledge-based theory (KBT), this study proposes a comprehensive framework for the relationships among environmental innovation strategy (EIS), green knowledge sharing (GKS), organizational green learning (OGL), and green competitiveness (GC), through literature review; after, a survey questionnaire method was employed, and multiple-regression method was used for the analysis. The empirical results show that environmental innovation strategy has a positive effect on green competitiveness; the green knowledge sharing and organizational green learning chain mediates the relationship between environmental innovation strategy and green competitiveness. The results further reveal that green knowledge sharing and organizational green learning are crucial paths for manufacturing enterprises to enhance green competitiveness in implementing their environmental innovation strategies. This study extends previous research by emphasizing the importance of environmental innovation strategy in the context of sustainable development, and enriches existing research related to green competitiveness.