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Environmentally sustainable or economically sustainable? The effect of Chinese manufacturing firms' corporate sustainable strategy on their green performances

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  • Morgan X. Yang
  • Ji Li
  • Irina Y. Yu
  • Kevin J. Zeng
  • Jian‐Min (James) Sun

Abstract

Environmentally and economically sustainable strategies are predicted to influence the public perception of a firm's green performance in terms of environmental protection as well as corporate social responsibility as a whole. We empirically tested this prediction with the data from 214 Chinese manufacturing firms. Our empirical findings showed that firms' environmentally sustainable strategies are more important compared with the economic ones in shaping firms' green performances. Moreover, we also found a significant moderating effect of employees' education on the relationship between the two sustainable strategies and firms' green performances. We explain the findings and conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for academic researchers and practitioners.

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  • Morgan X. Yang & Ji Li & Irina Y. Yu & Kevin J. Zeng & Jian‐Min (James) Sun, 2019. "Environmentally sustainable or economically sustainable? The effect of Chinese manufacturing firms' corporate sustainable strategy on their green performances," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 989-997, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:28:y:2019:i:6:p:989-997
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2296
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    14. Ying Zhang & Li Tong & Ji Li, 2020. "Minding the gap: Asymmetric effects of pay dispersion on stakeholder engagement in corporate environmental (Ir)responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2354-2367, September.
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    17. Zhang, Yixin & Zhao, Feng & Zhang, Jie & Wang, Zhicheng, 2021. "Fluctuation in the transformation of economic development and the coupling mechanism with the environmental quality of resource-based cities – A case study of Northeast China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

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