Green Innovation Strategies and Organisational Performance of Tea Processing Firms in Kenya: An Empirical Literature Review

Tim Mwangi and Marleen C. Bett
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Tim Mwangi: School of Business Economics and Tourism, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
Marleen C. Bett: School of Business Economics and Tourism, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.

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Abstract: Tea processing is one of the most environmentally intensive branches of Kenyan agro-industry, consuming large volumes of thermal energy, fuelwood and water while generating effluent, fibre waste and greenhouse gas emissions. As global buyers, certification bodies and domestic regulators tighten expectations around environmental stewardship, tea processing firms face growing pressure to reconcile ecological responsibility with commercial viability. Green innovation, understood as the introduction of new or modified products, processes, organisational practices and human resource systems that reduce environmental harm, has been proposed as a strategic pathway through which firms can meet these pressures while sustaining or improving organisational performance. This review synthesises the empirical and theoretical literature on green innovation strategies and organisational performance, with particular attention to tea processing firms in Kenya and to closely related agro-industrial and manufacturing contexts in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing economies. Drawing on the natural resource-based view, institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm, the review traces how green product innovation, green process innovation, green supply chain management, green human resource management and circular-economy waste valorisation relate to environmental, financial and competitive outcomes. The synthesis indicates a generally positive but heterogeneous relationship between green innovation and firm performance, moderated by firm size, certification status, regulatory stringency and the degree to which innovations are pursued in an integrated rather than piecemeal fashion. Kenyan tea-sector evidence remains thin relative to the wider international literature and is concentrated in a small number of counties, and relies heavily on cross-sectional survey designs. The review identifies research gaps in longitudinal evidence, waste-to-value pathways specific to tea by-products, and the institutional mechanisms that translate certification pressure into measurable performance gains, and it sets out an agenda for future empirical work in this sector.

Date: 2026-07-25
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Published in AJEFM, 2026, 8 (1), pp.731-746

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