Green innovation and organizational performance: The influence of big data and the moderating role of management commitment and HR practices

Abstract

Faced with internal and external pressure to adapt and implement environmental friendly business activities, it is becoming crucial for firms to identify practices that enhance their competitive advantage, economic, and environmental performance. Green innovation, green technologies, and the implementation of green supply chain management are examples of such practices. Green innovation and the adoption of the combination of green product innovation and green process innovation involve reduction in consumption of energy and pollution emission, recycling of wastes, sustainable utilization of resources, and green product designs.Although the extent research in this area is substantial, research on the importance of considering corporate environmental ethics, stakeholders view of green product, and demand for green products as drivers of green innovation must be conducted. Moreover, the role of large scale data, management commitment, and human resource practices play to overcome the technological challenges, achieve competitive advantage, and enhance the economic and environmental performance have yet to be addressed. This paper develops and tests a holistic model that depicts and examines the relationships among green innovation, its drivers, as well as factors that help overcome the technological challenges and influence the performance and competitive advantage of the firm. This paper is among the first works to deal with such a complex framework which considers the interrelationships among numerous constructs and their effects on competitive advantage as well as overall organizational performance. A questionnaire was designed to measure the influence of green innovation adoption/implementation and its drivers on performance and competitive advantage while taking into consideration the impact of management commitment and HR practices, as well as the use of large data on these relationships. Data collected from a sample of 215 respondents working in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Golf-Cooperation Countries (GCC) were used to test the proposed relationships. The proposed model proved to be fit. The hypotheses were supported, and implications were discussed.