Investigating the efficacy of isomorphic pressures on the adoption of green manufacturing practices and its influence on organizational legitimacy and financial performance

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Innocent Senyo Kwasi Acquah ◽  
Dacosta Essel ◽  
Charles Baah ◽  
Yaw Agyabeng-Mensah ◽  
Ebenezer Afum

PurposeThe need to engage in manufacturing practices that promote environmental sustainability has shifted from being optional to mandatory. From the perspectives of institutional and stakeholder theories, this paper captures the efficacy of isomorphic pressures on the adoption of green procurement, green product and process innovations and their respective influence on organizational legitimacy and financial performance in the context of an emerging economy and from the perspective of manufacturing small-and medium-sized enterprises.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a survey research design, a quantitative approach and partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique in making data analysis and interpretations due to its suitability for predictive research models.FindingsAnalysis of the results highlighted the fact that the composite impact of coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphic pressures robustly influenced the adoption of green procurement, green product and process innovations. Simultaneously, green procurement, green product and process innovations significantly influenced organizational legitimacy. Green procurement and green product innovation also significantly influenced financial performance unlike green process innovation that had an insignificant yet positive impact on financial performance. Based on the results, theoretical and practical implications are explained for policy makers, managers, government authorities and owners.Originality/valueThe study is among the first to expose isomorphic pressures on the adoption of green manufacturing practices specifically, green procurement, green product and process innovations and their influence on organizational legitimacy and financial performance in the context of Ghana, an emerging economy and from the perspective of small-and medium-sized enterprises. As such, the study provides guidance to relevant industry authorities and stakeholders in further promoting green manufacturing practices that preserve the environment by producing safer consumer products through efficient green procurement, green product and process innovative practices.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Afum ◽  
Ran Zhang ◽  
Yaw Agyabeng-Mensah ◽  
Zhuo Sun

Purpose This study aims to investigate the interactions between lean production, internal green practices, green product innovation and sustainable performance metrics. The study further looks at the mediation effect of internal green practices and green product innovation between lean production and sustainable performance dimensions. Design/methodology/approach The questionnaire was used to glean data from 209 manufacturing firms. All the hypothesized relationships were processed by using partial least square-structural equation modelling. Findings The results suggest that lean production significantly leads to the implementation of internal green practices and the production of quality products with eco-oriented features that meet customers’ needs. Further, while lean production and internal green practices were found to significantly influence sustainability performance, green product innovation significantly influences only financial performance. Besides, the mediation analysis shows that internal green practices mediate the relationship between lean production and sustainable performance dimensions but green product innovation mediates the relationship between lean production and financial performance only. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to firms from Ghana, a developing country; hence, the results cannot be imported to reflect other geographical contexts. Practical implications The results of the study provide sufficient justifications for managers, (especially Ghanaian managers and those from other similar environs) to commit their financial resources towards implementing lean production and internal green practices so as to achieve sustainability excellence. Originality/value This study magnifies and provides new insight on lean and green literature by developing a comprehensive research model that concurrently tests the direct and indirect effects between lean production, internal green practices, green product innovation and sustainable performance dimensions.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Karin Olsson ◽  
Iréne Bernhard ◽  
Tobias Arvemo ◽  
Ulrika Lundh Snis

PurposeThe purpose is to develop a work-integrated learning (WIL) model for university-society research collaboration facilitating societal impact toward short lag yet sustainable societal impact for local innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology applied was engaged scholarship based on a WIL approach involving a network of collaborating partners from different sectors of society and cross-disciplinary university researchers. Mixed data collection methods were applied.FindingsConceptualization of university-society research collaboration for local innovation is presented as a WIL model including the elements of continuity and commitment, coordination, communication and relationships, trust, courage and creativity and co-creation opportunities. Short lag societal impact as local innovation was identified as product and process innovations.Research limitations/implicationsFurther validation of the model is encouraged for the model to be viable in various contexts and to generate different kinds of societal impact.Practical implicationsThe model may act as a governing tool for project management to facilitate co-creative and short lag societal impact for local innovation to ensure that engaged and learning activities are embedded in the collaborative process.Social implicationsThe model has implications for inclusiveness and co-creation fostering transparency, respect and mutuality in university-society research collaboration and to equate both academic and practice knowledge.Originality/valueThe conclusions drawn support the understanding of a WIL approach practicing engaged scholarship in research collaborations. The main theoretical and practical contributions of the article are the conceptual model for university-society research collaboration generating short lag societal implications and local innovation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Greco ◽  
Michele Grimaldi ◽  
Livio Cricelli

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the recurrences in the empirical evidences that link open innovation (OI) actions and innovation performance in European countries. It provides managers with useful strategic suggestions, emphasizes the limitations of the state of the art, and recommends future directions of research. Design/methodology/approach – The authors systematically reviewed empirical articles linking OI actions and innovation performance in European countries, published on peer reviewed journals from January 2003 until May 2013. The authors organized the evidences according to a novel taxonomy grounded in the literature. Findings – The paper shows an increasing interest in the research of empirical evidence regarding OI and innovation performance. Nonetheless, evidence of the role played by outbound OI activities are extremely rare. The authors found that process innovations are more likely to benefit from coupled OI activities rather than inbound activities. Moreover, the effect of coupled depth actions on both product and process innovation performance was always positive in the reviewed articles. The authors also discuss how scholars measure innovation performance, pointing out the criticalities. Research limitations/implications – The paper allows analysing the empirical evidences found in the literature, emphasizing the limitations of the state of the art and recommending future directions of research. Practical implications – The systematization of the empirical evidences found in the European literature provides managers with useful strategic suggestions to improve their organizations’ innovation performances. Originality/value – The paper contains a complete and extensive analysis of empirical OI literature with respect to European countries. The articles and their findings are organized according to a novel taxonomy useful to identify evidences and recurrences in a synoptic manner.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1569
Author(s):  
Jamie W. Y. Lee ◽  
Lik Yin Ng ◽  
Viknesh Andiappan ◽  
Nishanth G. Chemmangattuvalappil ◽  
Denny K. S. Ng

Over the past decades, awareness of the increase in environmental impact due to industrial development and technological advancement has gradually increased. Green manufacturing is one of the key approaches that begin to address environmental issues. With the current global attention, methodologies to incorporate green manufacturing into the design of green products through the green process route are much needed. However, it is challenging for industries to achieve this, as there is no definite definition of green. This work presents a systematic approach that provides a clear and consistent green manufacturing definition with a measurement method in terms of both product and process. With the consistent green definitions, the developed approach designs a product that satisfies green property and other product performance properties. In addition, the developed approach synthesises the production process that fulfils green manufacturing definitions and financial considerations for the designed product. A case study on the design and production of green biofuel is solved to illustrate the efficacy of the approach. Green product design is obtained by identifying molecular building blocks that fulfil the targeted properties using an inverse molecular design technique. The goal is to design a chemical product that is environmentally friendly while fulfilling customer requirements. Moreover, a superstructural mathematical optimisation approach is used to determine optimal conversion pathways that have minimal environmental impact on the production of the identified green product. The utilisation of multi-objective optimisation allows the design of product and process to strike a good balance between operational and environmental performances.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahade Hasan ◽  
Shah Md Taha Islam

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role played by coercive, normative and mimetic pressures in stimulating timeliness of corporate internet reporting (TCIR). Design/methodology/approach This study uses content analysis technique to track the TCIR practices of top 100 non-financial companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. A disclosure index of 14 items is developed to capture the extent of TCIR. The authors collected the relevant data from multiple sources, such as corporate websites, monthly review reports and corporate annual reports for the year-end 2019. This study uses Poisson regression models to explore the association between institutional pressures and TCIR. Findings Consistent with the predictions of institutional isomorphism theory, the authors find that coercive isomorphic pressures through ownership by foreign investors, government, general public and connection with parent multinational corporations have positive associations with TCIR. The authors also find that normative pressures resulting from cross-directorships have positive influence on TCIR. The authors provide evidence of mimetic pressures through industry memberships (i.e. companies operating in technology-based industry) positively impacting TCIR. The additional analysis suggests that institutional pressures are rather associated with the extent of voluntary TICR and to a lesser extent to regulatory TICR. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to show the positive impacts of coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphic pressures on TCIR in an emerging economy characterized by weak institutional environment and mixed prospects for TCIR.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saira Begum ◽  
Enjun Xia ◽  
Fayaz Ali ◽  
Usama Awan ◽  
Muhammad Ashfaq

PurposeThe aims of this study were three-fold: to determine the impact of green transformational leadership on creative process engagement, green product innovation and green process innovation; to examine the association of creative process engagement with green product and process innovation and to identify the mediating influence of creative process engagement in the association between green transformational leadership and green process and product innovation.Design/methodology/approachData was collected through a survey questionnaire from 291 middle- and lower-level managers and employees through simple random sampling in four high-tech manufacturing industries situated in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in China. We examined the data through structural equation modeling using partial least squares to test the study hypotheses.FindingsThe findings unveiled that green transformational leadership and creative process engagement positively influence green product innovation and green process innovation. Similarly, green transformational leadership is positively linked with creative process engagement. The findings further revealed that creative process engagement mediates the impact of green transformational leadership on green process and product innovation. Hence, our findings provide strong support for the role of green transformational leadership and creative process engagement in improving green process and product innovation.Research limitations/implicationsOur sample is limited to China and collected from high-tech manufacturing industries.Practical implicationsDrawing on the componential theory of creativity, the authors suggest that organizational leaders, specifically those who practice green transformational leadership, should increase creative process engagement among subordinates, as it is a crucial intangible resource for green process and product innovation.Social implicationsWe suggest that a combination of green transformational leadership and creative process engagement improves green process and product innovation as well as the environmental performance of a business by eliminating all forms of hazardous material and waste.Originality/valueThis work is one of the earliest empirical studies to evaluate the influence of green transformational leadership on fostering green product and process innovation and the mediating impact of creative process engagement on the linkage among green transformational leadership, green product and process innovation within the manufacturing context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lejla Turulja ◽  
Nijaz Bajgoric

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw on dynamic capability view and contingency theory to clarify the nature of the effect of environmental turbulence on the relationships between firm’s both product and process innovations and business performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed and empirically tested two structural models using structural equation modeling approach. The first model deals with both product and process innovations as the mediators between environmental turbulence and business performance. The second model considers the moderating effect of environmental turbulence between innovation and business performance.FindingsThe findings show that environmental turbulence does not moderate the relationship between innovation and business performance. The authors have found a clear role of environmental turbulence in boosting innovation rather than moderating the relationship between innovation and performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe data set is a cross-section of heterogeneous firms regarding the industry.Practical implicationsManagers should be aware of the importance of the innovation for the environmental turbulence and dynamism counteracting. The results imply a negative influence of environmental turbulence on business performance. However, with the innovation in the equation, this influence can be positive, because it boosts firms to innovate and though to achieve better business performance.Originality/valueIt contributes the management and innovation research and practice through offering insights into the role of environmental turbulence in product innovation, process innovation as well as organizational business performance through comprehensive analysis of mediation and moderation effects between the observed constructs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Madrid-Guijarro ◽  
Domingo García-Pérez-de-Lema ◽  
Howard Van Auken

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the determinants of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) financing constraints and their impacts on investments in innovation. To explicate these factors, the authors use a general definition of innovation, distinguishing between product and process innovations, and highlight the role played by banking relationships. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of a literature review covering works specializing in innovation, financing constraints, and SME characteristics, a quantitative study is carried out in Spain, using a sample composed by 267 Spanish SMEs. Information was gathered by applying surveys addressed to the firm managers. Findings The findings reveal that financing constraints hinder innovation among Spanish SMEs functioning in hostile environments, though long-term banking relationships can moderate these financing constraints. The longer the duration of a firm’s banking relationship, the fewer financing constraints it faces, because the relationship significantly reduces information asymmetry. Practical implications To reduce financing constraints on their innovation, SMEs should establish long relationships and low debt concentration with their main bank. The more banks a firm works with, the greater its financing constraints. The findings have managerial implications, not just for firms but also for government policymakers and providers of consulting services. Originality/value This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the factors that affect innovation, along with insights into which financing constraints limit innovation during a severe recession.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 977-1011
Author(s):  
Faruk Bhuiyan ◽  
Kevin Baird ◽  
Rahat Munir

Purpose This study aims to investigate the influence of organisational culture, specifically O’Reilly et al.’s (1991) six dimensions of the organisational culture profile (respect for people, outcome orientation, team orientation, innovation, attention to detail and stability) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and the subsequent impact of CSR practices on organisational performance from the context of an emerging economy. Design/methodology/approach The study used a survey of middle- and higher-level managers in Bangladeshi organisations to develop a seven-dimensional model of CSR practices and used structural equation modelling to analyse the developed hypotheses. Findings The findings provide evidence of the influence of the six different dimensions of organisational culture on the different dimensions of CSR practices. The findings highlight the diverse impacts (i.e. positive and negative) of CSR practices on organisational performance. The study also highlights the direct influence of organisational culture on both financial and non-financial performance. In particular, the outcome and team orientation culture are positively associated with non-financial and financial performance, respectively, while an innovative culture is negatively associated with both non-financial and financial performance. Practical implications The findings of the study provide practitioners, internal (i.e. the managers and business owners of both the local and multinational organisations) and external policy-makers, and foreign investors in an emerging economy with new insights into the role of an intra-organisational factor (i.e. organisational culture) in influencing the adoption of CSR practices and the subsequent impact of CSR practices on organisational performance. Originality/value Using the 52 guidelines of CSR practices provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, this study provides a unique empirical insight into the influence of organisational culture on CSR practices and the impact of CSR practices on organisational performance. The findings contribute to the limited CSR literature examining the influence of organisational culture on the adoption of CSR practices and its subsequent impact on organisational performance in an emerging economy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Fathi Al-Sa’di ◽  
Ayman Bahjat Abdallah ◽  
Samer Eid Dahiyat

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of knowledge management (KM) on product and process innovations, as well as on operational performance (OP). In addition, the effects of product and process innovations on OP, as well as their mediating effects on the relationship between KM and OP, are also investigated. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire-based survey was designed and used to collect data from 207 manufacturing companies operating in the Jordanian capital Amman. To assess construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. To test research hypotheses, the bootstrap re-sampling method was applied using Hayes’s SPSS multiple-mediator PROCESS macro. Findings The results indicate that KM has significant positive effects on product and process innovations, and OP. Process innovation was found to have a significant positive effect on OP, while product innovation was not. Furthermore, only process innovation was found to significantly mediate the KM-OP relationship. Practical implications The findings of this study provide useful insights about the role of KM in facilitating and enhancing product and process innovations, as well as OP in the surveyed manufacturing companies. An important implication concerns the roles of product and process innovations. Manufacturing companies seeking improvements in their OP are recommended to focus on process innovation rather than product innovation. While product innovation may affect other aspects of performance, such as market and financial ones, it was not found to significantly affect OP. Process innovation can also leverage KM’s contribution to manufacturing companies’ OP. Originality/value This is a pioneering study in that it developed an integrated model that depicts the interrelationships among KM, product innovation and process innovation and OP, in a developing country context.


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