Green supply chain collaborative innovation, absorptive capacity and innovation performance: Evidence from China

Green supply chain collaborative innovation (GSCCI) is about the utilization of specific advantages of individual organizations in a holistic manner along the supply chain through collaboration for jointly solving green management problems. This paper presents a conceptual model for better understanding the relationship between GSCCI, absorptive capacity and innovation performance in organizations. Taking 206 foreign trade organizations in China as the survey object, this study empirically tests and validates the conceptual model using multiple regression analysis. The study shows that organization-organization collaborative innovation, organization-government collaborative innovation, and organization-institution collaborative innovation have a significant positive effect on innovation performance. It reveals that absorptive capacity has a significant positive effect on innovation performance. Furthermore, the study finds out that absorptive capacity plays a partially mediating role in the relationship between organization-organization collaborative innovation and innovation performance and between organization-institution collaborative innovation and innovation performance. This study illustrates the mechanism of GSCCI and its impact on innovation performance which provides guideline for foreign trade organizations in China to better compete in the international market through collaborative innovation.