Evaluating the effect of green technological innovations on organizational and environmental performance: A treble innovation approach

Abstract

The debate surrounding the relationship between organizational and environmental performance remains unresolved and requires further scrutiny in order to be clarified. Similarly, the integration of environmental practices by companies to ensure environmental protection remains a controversial issue, giving rise to diametrically-opposing views both in favor and against their adoption. Hence, this paper aims to address these debates by providing empirical evidence of the effect of green technological innovations on both organizational and environmental performance. To this end, it broadens traditional research from a single/dual-based to a treble innovation approach comprising the simultaneous effect of green process, product, and service innovations on firms’ environmental performance. In addition, this study explores the influence of green technological innovations on the organizational-environmental relationship so as to reveal a plausible configurational arrangement to ensure both organizational and environmental performance outcomes. In order to bridge this theoretical gap, our hypotheses were tested on a sample of 354 medium-sized Spanish firms operating in manufacturing industries. The findings provide evidence that organizational performance positively impacts environmental performance, while the individual and simultaneous deployment of green technological innovations, in turn, exerts a positive effect on both organizational and environmental performance. The empirical findings offer important theoretical and managerial implications when promoting the adoption of green technological innovations to accommodate the pursuit of organizational and environmental objectives.