Innovation vs. standardization: The conjoint effects of eco-innovation and environmental management systems on environmental performance |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Management and CIRCE Institute, University of Zaragoza, Spain;2. Management School, University of Liverpool, UK;3. School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA;4. Department of Business Administration, University of Granada, Spain;5. Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, The City University of New York, USA |
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| Abstract: | In this study, we first analyze whether firms' eco-innovation, manifested through green patents, improves environmental performance. Then, we assess whether adopting environmental management systems (EMS) that follow standardized guidelines enhances the potential of eco-innovation to improve environmental performance. To test our predictions, we build a unique firm-level dataset that combines global data on green patents, EMS adoption, and performance from five different data sources. The data support the positive effect of eco-innovation on environmental performance. However, our results show that adopting EMS, rather than strengthening the positive impact of eco-innovation on environmental performance, generates organizational rigidities that weaken the eco-innovation–environmental performance link. After conducting a set of qualitative post hoc interviews with elite informants, our surprising findings became more meaningful. Furthermore, we conducted a set of additional tests to validate our results in different scenarios where organizational rigidities could be a pivotal factor in explaining environmental performance differences connected to eco-innovation. This study has relevant theoretical and practical implications for the design and adoption of EMS and the conjoint dynamics between innovation and standardization practices to improve performance. |
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