Green process innovation has been seen as a key strategy for manufacturing firms to pursue sustainable development. Yet, how to help manufacturing firms eliminate bottlenecks when implementing green process innovation remains poorly understood. To address this issue, the current study, which is anchored in the government incentive perspective, examines the drivers, contingent conditions, and consequences of green process innovation by using the panel data of manufacturing‐listed firms in China from 2013 to 2017. The results present valuable findings: (a) green subsidies are positively related to two dimensions of green process innovation, namely, cleaner production technology and end‐of‐pipe technology; (b) both cleaner production technology and end‐of‐pipe technology are positively related to firms' green image; (c) a firm's cleaner production technology mediates the relationship between green subsidies and its green image; and (d) higher absorptive capacity strengthens the indirect effect of green subsidies on a firm's green image via cleaner production technology. Our results provide meaningful theoretical and practical implications by revealing the benefits of green subsidies through green process innovation by leveraging levels of absorptive capacity.

Turning green subsidies into sustainability: How green process innovation improves firms' green image

Cleaner Production practices, motivators and performance in the Brazilian industrial companies

Do Brazilian cities want to become smart or sustainable

Comparative analysis of rating systems in developing and developed countries: A systematic review and a future agenda towards a region-based sustainability assessment

The adoption of Cleaner Production (CP) consists in taking preventive actions of one or more Cleaner Production practices; the most common are the reduction of emissions, efficient use of water, en...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1558925020915585

Lucas Marques Matos

Papers

Implementation of cleaner production: A ten-year retrospective on benefits and difficulties found