Does executives’ ecological embeddedness predict corporate eco-innovation? Empirical evidence from China

Eco-innovation is the most promising way for enterprises to achieve green growth, and its adoption depends largely on executives’ choices. Therefore, this study investigates how executives’ ecological embeddedness affects the three dimensions of corporate eco-innovation by impacting two forms of executives’ environmental awareness. Eco-innovation includes eco-management innovation (EMI), eco-process innovation (EPsI), and eco-product innovation (EPtI). Environmental awareness consists of environmental risk awareness (ERA) and environmental cost–benefit awareness (ECA). Furthermore, this study examines the interrelationships between the two forms of environmental awareness and among the three dimensions of eco-innovation. Data collected from 192 Chinese manufacturing firms were used to test the hypotheses. The results support most of the proposed hypotheses with some exceptions, such as ECA positively affecting EPtI only as a partial mediator between ecological embeddedness and EPtI. Our findings contribute to understanding the antecedents of eco-innovation and complement research on executives’ social embeddedness.