The impact of green product innovation on firm performance and competitive capability: the moderating role of managerial environmental concern

Recently, many companies have recognized the concepts of green or environmental innovation. However, relatively little research attention has been devoted to the consideration of relations between green product innovation, firm performance and competitive capability. Hence, this paper aims to bridge this gap by providing empirical evidence to encourage companies to implement green product innovation in order to improve their firm performance and to enhance their competitive capability. It also includes the moderating role of managerial environmental concern in this relation. A model is constructed to link the aforementioned constructs. Data, which are collected through a questionnaire-based survey across 140 Turkish manufacturer firms from various sectors, are analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. According to statistical results, green product innovation significantly positively affects both firm performance and competitive capability. On the other hand, managerial environmental concern only moderates the relationship between green product innovation and firm performance. The results also provide various implications for managers and present some suggestions for future researches. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Arasli