The Contribution of Technological and Non-Technological Innovation to Environmental Performance. An Analysis with a Complementary Approach

In this study, we pursue two objectives. First, we analyse the influence of product, process, and non-technological innovation on environmental performance. Second, we explore the existence of complementarities or substitutabilities between the different combinations of these three types of innovati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2018-11, Vol.10 (11), p.4014
Main Authors: González-Blanco, Jennifer, Coca-Pérez, Jose, Guisado-González, Manuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodegradable materials
Environmental impact
Environmental management
Hypotheses
Innovations
Least squares method
Manufacturing
Marketing
Objectives
Product design
Studies
Technological change
Technology
Variables
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Summary:In this study, we pursue two objectives. First, we analyse the influence of product, process, and non-technological innovation on environmental performance. Second, we explore the existence of complementarities or substitutabilities between the different combinations of these three types of innovations to learn which combinations improve or worsen environmental performance. The analyses were performed using data from the 2013 Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for Spanish manufacturing companies. We use the two-stage least-squares method as an instrumental variable estimator, which allows us to control the endogeneity and obtain consistent estimators. Our findings indicate that product innovation and process innovation have a negative influence on environmental performance. Likewise, we have also found that the simultaneous implementation of product innovation and process innovation is unconditionally substitutive and that the joint implementation of process innovation and non-technological innovation is conditionally substitutive. This result reinforces the position of those researchers who have pointed out that the association between a greater technology orientation and a better firm environmental performance is probably too simplistic. Finally, it should be emphasized that only non-technological innovation contributes to achieving better environmental performance and that the joint implementation of product innovation and non-technology innovation is conditionally complementary.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su10114014