Page 275 - Hojnik, Jana. 2017. In Persuit of Eco-innovation. Drivers and Consequences of Eco-innovation at Firm Level. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 275
Summary of findings and discussion 275
to be related to product eco-innovation implementation, but the objec-
tive measures (company growth and company profitability) do not reflect
this. This was expected to occur, because eco-innovation’s return on in-
vestment or payoff may take several years, and in our study we have not
controlled the time since investment in product eco-innovation. There-
fore, even when companies may already observe and reap some benefits
from eco-innovation implementation, their positive effect on the “hard”
measures pertaining to the company’s profitability indicator ratios can-
not yet be seen. Moreover, those indicators related to company profitabil-
ity and growth are derived from the period of the recent economic crisis;
thus, we can infer that product eco-innovations contributed to compa-
nies’ survival and their existence during the crisis.
Third, concerning the process eco-innovation model, we found that
the following determinants (in descending order of importance by the
sizes of standardized coefficients) exerted positive and significant effects
(p < 0.05) on process eco-innovation: competitive pressure, customer de-
mand, managerial environmental concern, the command-and-control in-
strument and the economic incentive instrument. The only hypothesis
pertaining to the determinants of eco-innovation for which we have not
found empirical support was related to the expected benefits. We predict-
ed a positive and significant relationship between expected benefits and
process eco-innovation, while the association found between them was
negative and significant (p < 0.05). It seems that when companies start to
implement process eco-innovations, they do not consider them to be ben-
eficial for the company; that is, they do not expect any benefits from their
implementation in advance, or at least any such benefits are not the trig-
gering factors that would steer them toward eco-innovation implementa-
tion. With regard to the eco-innovation outcomes, we found support for
all eco-innovation outcomes except company growth, for which the as-
sociation was significant and negative (p < 0.05), instead of the expect-
ed positive and significant association. Our findings indicate that process
eco-innovation exerts a great positive and significant influence on com-
petitive benefits, followed by economic benefits (p < 0.05).Meanwhile,
the association between process eco-innovation and internationalization
was moderately high, significant (p < 0.05) and positive. Lastly, we also
found a weak but significant (p < 0.05) and positive association between
process eco-innovation and company profitability.
When examining the determinants and consequences of organiza-
tional eco-innovation, the findings of our study indicate that all the test-
ed determinants exerted positive and significant effects (p < 0.05) on or-
to be related to product eco-innovation implementation, but the objec-
tive measures (company growth and company profitability) do not reflect
this. This was expected to occur, because eco-innovation’s return on in-
vestment or payoff may take several years, and in our study we have not
controlled the time since investment in product eco-innovation. There-
fore, even when companies may already observe and reap some benefits
from eco-innovation implementation, their positive effect on the “hard”
measures pertaining to the company’s profitability indicator ratios can-
not yet be seen. Moreover, those indicators related to company profitabil-
ity and growth are derived from the period of the recent economic crisis;
thus, we can infer that product eco-innovations contributed to compa-
nies’ survival and their existence during the crisis.
Third, concerning the process eco-innovation model, we found that
the following determinants (in descending order of importance by the
sizes of standardized coefficients) exerted positive and significant effects
(p < 0.05) on process eco-innovation: competitive pressure, customer de-
mand, managerial environmental concern, the command-and-control in-
strument and the economic incentive instrument. The only hypothesis
pertaining to the determinants of eco-innovation for which we have not
found empirical support was related to the expected benefits. We predict-
ed a positive and significant relationship between expected benefits and
process eco-innovation, while the association found between them was
negative and significant (p < 0.05). It seems that when companies start to
implement process eco-innovations, they do not consider them to be ben-
eficial for the company; that is, they do not expect any benefits from their
implementation in advance, or at least any such benefits are not the trig-
gering factors that would steer them toward eco-innovation implementa-
tion. With regard to the eco-innovation outcomes, we found support for
all eco-innovation outcomes except company growth, for which the as-
sociation was significant and negative (p < 0.05), instead of the expect-
ed positive and significant association. Our findings indicate that process
eco-innovation exerts a great positive and significant influence on com-
petitive benefits, followed by economic benefits (p < 0.05).Meanwhile,
the association between process eco-innovation and internationalization
was moderately high, significant (p < 0.05) and positive. Lastly, we also
found a weak but significant (p < 0.05) and positive association between
process eco-innovation and company profitability.
When examining the determinants and consequences of organiza-
tional eco-innovation, the findings of our study indicate that all the test-
ed determinants exerted positive and significant effects (p < 0.05) on or-
