Analyzing green entrepreneurial orientation drivers: Insights from the Indian manufacturing industry

Business activities often lead to various environmental issues, like deforestation, waste, and pollution. Hence, integrating environmental concerns into manufacturing operations is essential for ensuring long-term sustainability. In this direction, green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO) represents an internal strategy that integrates environmental concerns into business operations. While much of the discussion around GEO has centered on the manufacturing sector in general, the unique dynamics of the textile industry have often been overlooked. This highlights the need for a more targeted exploration of GEO drivers specific to the textile sector. An exploratory approach has been used in the study, where in the first stage drivers are identified through a literature review strategy, while the second stage involves analysis of the company sustainability reports to validate the drivers. The results indicate that managerial environment concerns, technical orientation, big data analytical capabilities, environmental collaboration, and institutional pressure are the primary drivers that must be operationalized by firms to implement GEO. Furthermore, textile firms are concentrating on five core areas that align with GEO principles: energy efficiency, renewable energy, water and effluents management, waste management, and awareness programs. The study provides implications for managers and policy makers to prioritize the integration of environmental concerns into strategic decision making, foster collaborations, invest in data-driven technologies, and strengthen regulatory frameworks to encourage the adoption of green entrepreneurial practices.