Are exporting firms linked to cleaner production? A study of eco-innovation in Taiwan

Abstract

The relationship between export firms and cleaner production is understudied. To advance the literature, this study examines 4949 manufacturing and services firms from the Third Taiwanese Technological Innovation Survey (TTIS3) database. Cleaner production is a broad concept and in this study, a proxy measure is used by relying on eco-innovation levels employed at the firm level, which includes materials (reduced material use per unit of output), energy (reduced energy use per unit of output), carbon emissions (reduction of the CO2 footprint), dangerous substances (replacement of materials with less polluting or less hazardous substitutes), other pollution control (reduced soil, water, noise or air pollution) and recycling. Based on theoretical arguments of institutional theory, export firms are positively associated (β = 0.23; p < 0.001) with cleaner production (as measured by eco-innovation). However, the relationship is unlikely to be linear and therefore key external and internal contingencies are considered. Of external contingencies, government subsidies (β = −0.03; n.s.) and consumer demand (β = 0.04; n.s.) do not a have a moderating effect. Of internal contingencies, a proactive corporate environmental strategy (β = 0.19; p < 0.001) and absorptive capacity (β = 0.69; p < 0.001) positively moderate the relationship. Analysis to further unpack the relationships among components in the main effects tests are provided and an outline of the contributions of the findings along with limitations and future research directions are provided.