Understanding the Green Development Behavior and Performance of Industrial Enterprises (GDBP-IE): Scale Development and Validation

Industrial enterprises have provided outstanding contributions to economic development in countries around the world. The green development of industrial enterprises has received widespread attention from researchers. However, existing research lacks the tools to scientifically measure the green development behavior and performance of industrial enterprises. According to the theory of green development behavior and performance of industrial enterprises (GDBP-IE), the aim of this paper is to provide a tool for scientifically measuring such behavior and performance. This paper determined the initial scale through literature analysis and expert discussions and obtained valid samples from 31 provincial administrative regions in China through field and online surveys (N = 853). The exploratory factor analysis method was used to test the reliability and validity of the scale. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) The reliability and validity of the GDBP-IE scale are good; (2) the GDBP-IE scale, with a total of 70 items, comprises four sub-scales: The internal factors sub-scale, the external factors sub-scale, the green development behavior of industrial enterprises sub-scale, and the green development performance of industrial enterprises sub-scale. Among them, the internal factors sub-scale, with a total of 13 items, consists of two dimensions: Corporate tangible resources and corporate intangible resources. The external factors sub-scale, with a total of 23 items, consists of three dimensions: Market environment; public supervision; policy and institutional environment. The green development behavior of industrial enterprises sub-scale, with a total of 18 items, consists of two dimensions: Clean production behavior and green supply chain management practice. The green development performance of industrial enterprises sub-scale, with a total of 16 items, comprises three dimensions: Corporate social performance, corporate financial performance, and corporate environmental performance. The findings enrich the research on corporate organizational behavior, green behavior, and green development system theory, and provide tools for further empirical testing. The development and verification of green development behavior and performance of industrial enterprises can help guide various types of industrial enterprises in transforming to green development and can provide a reference for the government to formulate targeted green development policies.