Do green practices drive business excellence in SMEs? Investigating how green entrepreneurial orientation improves a firm’s performance

Due to growing environmental concerns and sustainability issues, firms have to rely on\r\ngreen practices to overcome these challenges, and they should not be reluctant that it\r\nwill adversely affect their financial performance. Some studies hold that a green\r\nentrepreneurial orientation is vital for achieving performance. However, scant\r\nresearch has empirically tested the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions\r\nunder which green entrepreneurial orientation affects firm performance. Therefore,\r\nthis study aimed to explore the influence of green entrepreneurial orientation on firm\r\nperformance via green (‘product and process’) innovation. Additionally, multiple\r\nmoderation effects: a). Corporate social responsibility moderates green\r\nentrepreneurial orientation and green (‘product and process’) innovation nexuses,\r\nand b). Differentiation strategy moderates green (‘product and process’) innovation\r\ninfluence on firm performance was also investigated. The hypotheses were\r\nempirically tested with primary data collected from 576 Italian small and mediumsized\r\nenterprises using the survey method and analyzed through structural equation\r\nmodeling. On the foundation of the resource-based view, the results demonstrate that\r\ngreen entrepreneurial orientation directly and indirectly, through green (‘product and\r\nprocess’) innovation, influences firm performance. Evidence also confirms that\r\ncorporate social responsibility and differentiation strategies positively moderate the\r\nproposed relationships. These results provide a new perspective on green\r\nentrepreneurial orientation, underlying mechanisms, and boundary conditions under\r\nwhich firms can improve their performance.