How Green Organizational Culture Translates into Business Performance: The Mediating Roles of Business and Technology Driven Eco Innovative Capabilities

Abstract

Manuscript type: Research paper
Research aims: This study examines how green organisational
culture (GOC) is translated into financial and non-financial business
performance through business-driven and technology-driven ecoinnovative
capabilities (EIC). Specifically, it assesses the influence of
GOC on both EIC dimensions, compares their effects on financial and
non-financial performance, and examines their mediating roles in the
GOC–performance relationship.
Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a quantitative crosssectional
design. Survey data were collected from 58 top- and middlelevel
managers serving as key informants for Malaysian manufacturing
and service firms registered with the Sustainable Energy Development
Authority Malaysia (SEDA Malaysia) and engaged in environmental and
sustainability-related practices. The proposed relationships were analysed
using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). 
Theoretical contribution/Originality: Drawing on the Resource-Based
View (RBV), the study demonstrates that the performance relevance of
GOC varies according to the capability through which it is deployed.
Business-driven EIC enhances non-financial performance but shows
no significant effect on financial performance, whereas technologydriven
EIC enhances both financial and non-financial performance. The
mediation effects are therefore path-specific. The study extends RBV by
distinguishing between different eco-innovative capability pathways and
showing that capabilities originating from the same cultural resource may
generate different forms of performance value.
Practitioner/Policy implications: The findings suggest that managers
should align eco-innovation investments with the performance outcomes
they seek. Technology-driven initiatives are particularly relevant when
financial and operational outcomes are priorities, while business-driven
initiatives contribute more strongly to reputation, competitive positioning,
and other non-financial outcomes. Policymakers can support firms
through incentives, knowledge transfer, and collaboration initiatives that
facilitate the development and adoption of eco-innovative capabilities.