Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically examine antecedents to environmentally conscious operations (ECOs) and to investigate the effect of ECOs on performance in the transitioning economy Russia. The authors examine organizational antecedents such as innovativeness, proximity to major urban centers of gravity, and interaction with international customers because there is evidence that external antecedents such as stakeholder pressure may not be as effective in transitioning economies as they are in developed countries. Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a structural equation model to test the hypothesized relationships on a sample of 769 private sector manufacturing companies located in Russia having used the survey method for data collection. Findings – The authors find that the proximity to major urban centers of gravity, interaction with international customers and a firm-internal culture of innovativeness are positively related to ECOs. The authors also find evidence that ECOs are positively related to performance. ECOs partially mediate the relationship between international trade and firm performance. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies to investigate antecedents to ECOs in Russia and one of the few that uses diffusion of innovations theory to unpack potential ECO antecedents.

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