Can CEO environmental awareness promote new product development performance? Empirical research on Chinese manufacturing firms

• Published in: Business strategy and the environment Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 985 - 1003
• Main Authors: Tang, Jiawang, Liu, Along, Gu, Jibao, Liu, Hefu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester Wiley Periodicals Inc 01-02-2024
• Subjects: CEO environmental awareness; Chief executive officers; Chief executives; corporate environmental practice; Environmental awareness; institutional pressure; Manufacturing; new product development; Performance enhancement; Product development; China
• ISSN: 0964-4733; 1099-0836
• DOI: 10.1002/bse.3527

Despite the growing interest in the role of chief executive officers' (CEOs') environmental awareness in enhancing performance, its impact on new product development (NPD) performance, as well as the underlying mechanisms and contextual bounds of the impact, remains unexplored. Based on upper echelons theory, we suggest that CEO environmental awareness promotes NPD performance through corporate environmental practice. We further theorize that the role of CEO environmental awareness is contingent on environmental institutional pressure. To validate the model, we collected survey data from 534 senior executives of 178 manufacturing firms in China. The main results show that corporate environmental practice completely mediates the relationship between CEO environmental awareness and NPD performance. The relationship is positively moderated by environmental normative pressure, whereas environmental regulatory pressure negatively moderates this process. Theoretical and practical implications of how to leverage CEO environmental awareness and environmental institutional pressure to boost NPD performance are discussed.