Does national culture matter for environmental innovation? A study of emerging economies

Ullah, Subhan; Agyei-Boapeah, Henry; Kim, Ja Ryong; Nasim, Asma

Abstract

Environmental innovation is regarded as an essential tool to achieve the Paris Climate Conference agreement and Net Zero by 2050. Despite the extensive studies on the determinants of environmental innovation in developed countries, little attention has been paid to developing countries despite their dominance of emissions and different institutional characteristics. This paper fills the gap in the literature by investigating the determinants of environmental innovation in developing countries. In addition, the paper examines the role of national culture, an informal institutional factor, as a potential determinant of environmental innovation. Using 10,764 firm-year observations for a sample of 15 developing countries from 2015 to 2019, we find that environmental innovation is mainly driven by the demand-pull factor, rather than the technology-push factor, in developing countries. In addition, certain national cultural dimensions such as masculinity and long-term orientation enhance environmental innovation, while other dimensions such as power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence reduce it. The paper makes a theoretical contribution by extending the Porter Hypothesis towards institutional theory to include informal institutional factors (i.e. national culture) as a determinant of environmental innovation. The finding also suggests a rethink of policy in developing countries to focus more on demand-pull factors to promote environmental innovation.

Citation

Ullah, S., Agyei-Boapeah, H., Kim, J. R., & Nasim, A. (2022). Does national culture matter for environmental innovation? A study of emerging economies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 181, Article 121755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121755

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 16, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-08
• Deposit Date: May 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 2, 2023
• Journal: Technological Forecasting and Social Change
• Print ISSN: 0040-1625
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 181
• Article Number: 121755
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121755
• Keywords: Environmental innovation, national culture, climate change, institutional theory, Porter hypothesis
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8219589
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162522002803
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Does national culture matter for environmental innovation? A study of emerging economies; Journal Title: Technological Forecasting and Social Change; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121755; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.