How Can Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises Improve Green Innovation Performance through Innovation Ecosystems?

Qian Li, Qingyun Gao, Yan Zhang and Chennan Gou ()
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Qian Li: School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Qingyun Gao: School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Yan Zhang: School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Chennan Gou: School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-23

Abstract: Under the fierce business competition and sustainable development pressure, the pattern of enterprise innovation has gradually changed from independent innovation to cooperative innovation. As a collection of multi-type innovation actors, the innovation ecosystem provides opportunities and platforms for cooperative innovation among government–industry–university–research institutions. While the present studies on innovation ecosystems are mostly from the perspective of the system level, few studies pay attention to the innovation mechanism of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs) in the innovation ecosystem. Therefore, this study takes SMMEs embedded in innovation ecosystems as research objects and explores the factors affecting green innovation. We constructed a theoretical model to explain the effect of innovation eco-embeddedness on green innovation performance based on ecosystem theory and network embeddedness theory; we then collected 363 samples of SMMEs in China through surveys and further tested the data empirically. The results show that the innovation eco-embeddedness (IEE) of SMMEs has a positive effect on their green innovation performance (GIP), and their green value co-creation practices (GVCCPs) partially mediate the relationship between IEE and GIP. Moreover, ecological norms (ENs) in the innovation ecosystem not only positively moderate the impact of IEE on GVCCPs but also positively moderate the mediating role of GVCCPs. This study enriches the relevant research on innovation ecosystems from the perspective of non-core enterprises and provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for SMMEs to implement green innovation practices and realize growth through innovation ecosystems.

Keywords: innovation ecosystem; eco-embeddedness; green value co-creation practices; ecological norms; cooperation of government–industry–university–research; green innovation performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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