Sustainability Orientation and Innovation Speed: The Moderating Effects of Competitive Intensity and R&D Agility

Samuel Adomako and Nguyen Phong Nguyen

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2025, vol. 34, issue 4, 4312-4324

Abstract: This article explores the contingent factors that shape the relationship between sustainability orientation and innovation speed. Although the body of research on sustainability orientation is growing, a lack of studies focusing on the contextual and boundary conditions affecting sustainability orientation. Additionally, little is known about how sustainability orientation influences innovation speed in emerging markets. To address this, we expand the literature by developing and testing a model that examines the moderating effects of R&D agility and competitive intensity on the link between sustainability orientation and innovation speed. Specifically, we investigate how sustainability orientation affects innovation speed and how R&D and perceptions of competitive intensity moderate this effect. Based on time‐lagged data from 257 manufacturing firms in Vietnam, our findings reveal that sustainability orientation negatively influences firms' innovation speed. The results also reveal that R&D agility attenuates the negative impact of sustainability orientation on innovation speed. Furthermore, we observe that the negative relationship between sustainability orientation and innovation speed is weakened when both R&D agility and competitive intensity are high. Our detailed analysis extends the conceptual reach of sustainability orientation and increases its applicability to non‐Western contexts.

Date: 2025
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