Table 1 Study’s variables Measure... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Study’s variables

Measure	Definition	Variable	Scale
Dependent variable: Sustainability performance Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.91	This construct was formulated to include the three dimensions considered in the literature (e.g. Shang et al., 2020): environmental, economic and social sustainability	Following previous antecedents in the literature (e.g. Acebo et al., 2021; González-Blanco et al., 2018), we calculate this construct as the sum of the scores about the importance of the following 16 organizational sustainability objectives (i) Increase in the offered number of products or services; (ii) Old product substitution; (iii) New market penetration; (iv) Increase in market share; (v) Increase in quality; (vi) Increase in product flexibility; (vii) Increase in production capacity; (viii) Labor cost reduction (per unit produced); (ix) Material cost reduction (per unit); (x) Energy cost reduction (per unit); (xi) Reduction in environmental impact; (xii) Compliance with environmental, health and safety regulation; (xiii) Increase in total employment; (xiv) Increase in qualified employment; (xv) Maintenance of employment; and, (xvi) Increase in employees’ health and safety. These questions were answered on a four-point scale of importance (ranging from between 0 for “not used” and 3 for “high importance”), but, before summing the items, we coded these questions as binary variables (1 if the company indicates either “medium” or “high” importance, 0 otherwise)	0–16
Independent variables
Belonging to a science and technology park (STP)	This variable distinguishes companies that are located in science and technology parks from those that are not (e.g. Diez-Vial and Fernández-Olmos, 2017)	Following previous studies in the literature (e.g. Diez-Vial and Fernández-Olmos, 2017; Yang et al., 2009), this dichotomous variable takes the value of 1 when an organization is located in a science and technology park and 0 otherwise	0–1
Knowledge spillovers Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.82	Knowledge spillovers are any original, valuable knowledge which becomes publicly accessible (Cohen and Levinthal, 1989)	Following previous studies (e.g. González-Blanco et al., 2018; Rodríguez et al., 2017), the aggregate construct is the sum of the scores about the importance of the following 11 information sources for the innovation process: (i) Sources within the organization’s enterprise group; (ii) Suppliers; (iii) Clients; (iv) Competitors; (v) Consultants and commercial labs; (vi) Universities or other higher education institutions; (vii) Public research institutes; (viii) Technological institutes; (ix) Conferences; (x) Scientific journals and technical publications; and, (xi) Professional and industry associations Each source was measured with an item capturing the degree of importance (ranging between 0 for “not used” and 3 for “high”). We rescaled each item before aggregating them, assigning a value for 0 (not used and low importance), or 1 (medium and high importance). Thus, with 10 items in total, the final external knowledge sources measure ranges from 0 to 11	0–11
Absorptive capacity (ACAP) Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.6	The ACAP is the firm’s ability to “recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends” (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990, p. 128)	As proposed in previous studies (e.g. Diez-Vial and Fernández-Olmos, 2017), we sum the scores obtained in the following five binary variables aimed at capturing whether the respondent’s company has carried out any of the following activities: (i) Internal research and development; (ii) External research and development; (iii) Acquisition of machinery and equipment; (iv) Acquisition of external knowledge; and, (v) Internal and external training for innovation activities	0–5
Control variables (Albahari et al., 2023; Arranz et al., 2019; De Marchi, 2012)
Size (SIZE)	–	To capture the effect of the company’s size on sustainability performance, we introduced the number of employees	Continuous
Exports (EXPORTS)	–	We control of the firm’s international scope (Arranz et al., 2019) based on a question asking about the percentage of company turnover generated in foreign markets	Continuous
Industry (INDUSTRY)	–	We introduce a dummy variable that takes the value 1 if the business belongs to the manufacturing industry and 0 if it belongs to the service industry	0–1

Measure	Definition	Variable	Scale
Dependent variable: Sustainability performanceCronbach’s Alpha = 0.91	This construct was formulated to include the three dimensions considered in the literature (e.g. Shang et al., 2020): environmental, economic and social sustainability	Following previous antecedents in the literature (e.g. Acebo et al., 2021; González-Blanco et al., 2018), we calculate this construct as the sum of the scores about the importance of the following 16 organizational sustainability objectives(i) Increase in the offered number of products or services; (ii) Old product substitution; (iii) New market penetration; (iv) Increase in market share; (v) Increase in quality; (vi) Increase in product flexibility; (vii) Increase in production capacity; (viii) Labor cost reduction (per unit produced); (ix) Material cost reduction (per unit); (x) Energy cost reduction (per unit); (xi) Reduction in environmental impact; (xii) Compliance with environmental, health and safety regulation; (xiii) Increase in total employment; (xiv) Increase in qualified employment; (xv) Maintenance of employment; and, (xvi) Increase in employees’ health and safety.These questions were answered on a four-point scale of importance (ranging from between 0 for “not used” and 3 for “high importance”), but, before summing the items, we coded these questions as binary variables (1 if the company indicates either “medium” or “high” importance, 0 otherwise)	0–16
Independent variables
Belonging to a science and technology park (STP)	This variable distinguishes companies that are located in science and technology parks from those that are not (e.g. Diez-Vial and Fernández-Olmos, 2017)	Following previous studies in the literature (e.g. Diez-Vial and Fernández-Olmos, 2017; Yang et al., 2009), this dichotomous variable takes the value of 1 when an organization is located in a science and technology park and 0 otherwise	0–1
Knowledge spilloversCronbach’s Alpha = 0.82	Knowledge spillovers are any original, valuable knowledge which becomes publicly accessible (Cohen and Levinthal, 1989)	Following previous studies (e.g. González-Blanco et al., 2018; Rodríguez et al., 2017), the aggregate construct is the sum of the scores about the importance of the following 11 information sources for the innovation process: (i) Sources within the organization’s enterprise group; (ii) Suppliers; (iii) Clients; (iv) Competitors; (v) Consultants and commercial labs; (vi) Universities or other higher education institutions; (vii) Public research institutes; (viii) Technological institutes; (ix) Conferences; (x) Scientific journals and technical publications; and, (xi) Professional and industry associationsEach source was measured with an item capturing the degree of importance (ranging between 0 for “not used” and 3 for “high”). We rescaled each item before aggregating them, assigning a value for 0 (not used and low importance), or 1 (medium and high importance). Thus, with 10 items in total, the final external knowledge sources measure ranges from 0 to 11	0–11
Absorptive capacity (ACAP)Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.6	The ACAP is the firm’s ability to “recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends” (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990, p. 128)	As proposed in previous studies (e.g. Diez-Vial and Fernández-Olmos, 2017), we sum the scores obtained in the following five binary variables aimed at capturing whether the respondent’s company has carried out any of the following activities: (i) Internal research and development; (ii) External research and development; (iii) Acquisition of machinery and equipment; (iv) Acquisition of external knowledge; and, (v) Internal and external training for innovation activities	0–5
Control variables (Albahari et al., 2023; Arranz et al., 2019; De Marchi, 2012)
Size (SIZE)	–	To capture the effect of the company’s size on sustainability performance, we introduced the number of employees	Continuous
Exports (EXPORTS)	–	We control of the firm’s international scope (Arranz et al., 2019) based on a question asking about the percentage of company turnover generated in foreign markets	Continuous
Industry (INDUSTRY)	–	We introduce a dummy variable that takes the value 1 if the business belongs to the manufacturing industry and 0 if it belongs to the service industry	0–1

Source(s): Authors’ own elaboration