The knowledge-based economy approach highlights the importance and scale of green ambidexterity innovation. This phenomenon gained substantial recognition globally due to the increasing pressure of ecological forces, stakeholders and competitors. Hence, firms are aiming for an effective execution of strategies to ensure environmental sustainability and drawing on institutional and resource-based view theories by considering green intellectual capital as complementary assets.
This study develops a framework that describes how firms translate green strategic intent into superior green ambidexterity innovation through the mediating role of green intellectual capital and environmental knowledge and examines the moderating role of external pressures. The data were collected from 311 respondents representing the ginning and spinning textile sectors. Data analysis was conducted using CB-SEM.
The results reveal that green strategic intent had a significant positive effect on green intellectual capital. In turn, green intellectual capital has a positive effect on green ambidexterity; at the same time, it has an indirect effect on green ambidexterity innovation through environmental knowledge. However, external pressure moderates the causal relationship in three levels of the causal path: (1) green intellectual capital and environmental knowledge, (2) environmental knowledge and green ambidexterity and (3) green intellectual capital and green ambidexterity innovation.
To successfully implement the firm's green strategic intent, managers should develop intangible assets along with tangible resources, particularly in textile firms. Increased investment in green intellectual capital will help firms improve their knowledge of environmental change and seek exploratory and exploitative innovation. On average, strategic intent is viable when it adds importance to green intellectual capital.
