Page 279 - Hojnik, Jana. 2017. In Persuit of Eco-innovation. Drivers and Consequences of Eco-innovation at Firm Level. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 279
Summary of findings and discussion
Hypotheses Product EI Results – main findings EI construct
with description Process EI Organizational EI
The relationship be-
tween eco-innova-
H9 tion’s performance Supported. Supported. Supported. Supported.
and internation-
alization is direct
and positive.
Summarizing (see Table 91), we can conclude that several factors – 279
the command-and-control instrument, the economic incentive instru-
ment, customer demand, managerial environmental concern and compet-
itive pressure – all drive implementation of the following eco-innovation
types: product, process, organizational eco-innovation, and eco-inno-
vation construct. The results revealed that expected benefits work as a
driver of product eco-innovation, organizational eco-innovation and
the eco-innovation construct, while expected benefits do not work as a
driver of process eco-innovation. Finally, pertaining to the outcomes of
eco-innovation, the results indicate that implementation of product, pro-
cess and organizational eco-innovation and the eco-innovation construct
leads to a higher level of internationalization (in terms of scope – num-
ber of operation modes and number of foreign markets – and scale) and
also leads to greater competitive and economic benefits. Moreover, imple-
mentation of process eco-innovation, organizational eco-innovation and
the eco-innovation construct is positively associated with company prof-
itability (in terms of ROA, ROE and ROS), while this is not the case for
product eco-innovation. We assume that this last finding pertaining to
the effect of product eco-innovation on company profitability (where the
standardized coefficient was close to zero, negative and statistically signif-
icant) relates to the longer process of product development, and thus the
results pertaining to company profitability are also lagged in time. How-
ever, implementation of eco-innovation does not lead to company growth
but rather shows a significant negative influence on it (in terms of em-
ployees and sales). This finding should be interpreted with care, however,
because growth in number of employees and growth in sales can also be
affected by other factors.
Below, we summarize all the findings related to each hypothesis. We
have tested four eco-innovation models (of which the main findings were
briefly summarized above): we tested determinants and consequenc-
es of product, process and organizational eco-innovation and, lastly, the
eco-innovation construct.
Hypotheses Product EI Results – main findings EI construct
with description Process EI Organizational EI
The relationship be-
tween eco-innova-
H9 tion’s performance Supported. Supported. Supported. Supported.
and internation-
alization is direct
and positive.
Summarizing (see Table 91), we can conclude that several factors – 279
the command-and-control instrument, the economic incentive instru-
ment, customer demand, managerial environmental concern and compet-
itive pressure – all drive implementation of the following eco-innovation
types: product, process, organizational eco-innovation, and eco-inno-
vation construct. The results revealed that expected benefits work as a
driver of product eco-innovation, organizational eco-innovation and
the eco-innovation construct, while expected benefits do not work as a
driver of process eco-innovation. Finally, pertaining to the outcomes of
eco-innovation, the results indicate that implementation of product, pro-
cess and organizational eco-innovation and the eco-innovation construct
leads to a higher level of internationalization (in terms of scope – num-
ber of operation modes and number of foreign markets – and scale) and
also leads to greater competitive and economic benefits. Moreover, imple-
mentation of process eco-innovation, organizational eco-innovation and
the eco-innovation construct is positively associated with company prof-
itability (in terms of ROA, ROE and ROS), while this is not the case for
product eco-innovation. We assume that this last finding pertaining to
the effect of product eco-innovation on company profitability (where the
standardized coefficient was close to zero, negative and statistically signif-
icant) relates to the longer process of product development, and thus the
results pertaining to company profitability are also lagged in time. How-
ever, implementation of eco-innovation does not lead to company growth
but rather shows a significant negative influence on it (in terms of em-
ployees and sales). This finding should be interpreted with care, however,
because growth in number of employees and growth in sales can also be
affected by other factors.
Below, we summarize all the findings related to each hypothesis. We
have tested four eco-innovation models (of which the main findings were
briefly summarized above): we tested determinants and consequenc-
es of product, process and organizational eco-innovation and, lastly, the
eco-innovation construct.
