The dual-process between green supplier collaboration and firm performance: A behavioral perspective

Abstract

Despite the importance of green supplier collaboration (GSC) for solving environmental concerns, how and under what conditions it affects firm performance is still unclear. Based on dual process theory, we identify two kinds of behaviors, namely explicit behaviors (i.e., information sharing and opportunistic behavior) and inherent behaviors (i.e., dependence on supplier and trust in supplier). According to resource dependence theory, we develop a dual process model, in which two explicit behaviors are hypothesized to mediate the GSC-performance link and two inherent behaviors are hypothesized to moderate the relationship between GSC and each of explicit behaviors. Using two-wave survey data collected from 206 manufacturing firms in China, we find that GSC positively influences both financial and environmental performance via increasing the level of information sharing. Although opportunistic behavior has a negative effect on environmental performance, the direct impact of GSC on it is insignificant. In addition, dependence on supplier positively moderates the relationship between GSC and opportunistic behavior, while trust in supplier positively moderates the relationship between GSC and information sharing, and negatively moderates the relationship between GSC and opportunistic behavior. This research provides initial support for the dual processes of how GSC influences firm performance from a behavioral perspective.