INNOVATION VS. STANDARDIZATION: THE CONJOINT EFFECTS OF ECO-INNOVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ON ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE

Valero-Gil, Jesus, Surroca, Jorge ORCID: 0000-0001-9620-4523, Tribo, Josep, Gutierrez, Leopoldo and Montiel, Ivan (2023) INNOVATION VS. STANDARDIZATION: THE CONJOINT EFFECTS OF ECO-INNOVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ON ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE. Research Policy, 52 (4). p. 104737.

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Abstract

In this study, we first analyze whether firms' eco-innovation, manifested through green patents, improves environmental performance. Then, we assess whether adopting environmental management systems (EMS) that follow standardized guidelines enhances the potential of eco-innovation to improve environmental performance. To test our predictions, we build a unique firm-level dataset that combines global data on green patents, EMS adoption, and performance from five different data sources. The data support the positive effect of eco-innovation on environmental performance. However, our results show that adopting EMS, rather than strengthening the positive impact of eco-innovation on environmental performance, generates organizational rigidities that weaken the eco-innovation–environmental performance link. After conducting a set of qualitative post hoc interviews with elite informants, our surprising findings became more meaningful. Furthermore, we conducted a set of additional tests to validate our results in different scenarios where organizational rigidities could be a pivotal factor in explaining environmental performance differences connected to eco-innovation. This study has relevant theoretical and practical implications for the design and adoption of EMS and the conjoint dynamics between innovation and standardization practices to improve performance.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Eco-innovation, Green patents, Environmental performance, Environmental management systems, Resource-based view, Organizational rigidities
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	16 Jan 2023 10:07
Last Modified:	29 Mar 2023 14:09
DOI:	10.1016/j.respol.2023.104737
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3167053