Analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on environmental innovations in manufacturing firms

Abstract

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the manufacturing industry, and manufacturers have responded to the crisis in different ways. This study investigates Norwegian manufacturers’ response to the crisis, particularly how it has influenced their adoption of environmental innovations. More specifically, the study investigates whether firms choose “general” or “green” strategic responses to the crisis and how this influences the overall adoption of environmental innovations. In addition, the study investigates how the degree of environmental innovation adoption occurring before COVID-19 affects how the crisis impacted firms. The study adopts a quantitative research approach using survey data from 526 manufacturing firms—a representative sample of manufacturers in Norway. The findings reveal that those manufacturers the most environmentally innovative before COVID-19 were more impacted by the crisis. Moreover, firms adopted both general and green responses to the crisis, and the overall conduction of environmental innovations decreased during the pandemic. The main contribution is the empirical findings related to the overall impact of COVID-19 on sustainability-oriented manufacturing. The implications are discussed for both theory and practice.

Has the Covid‐19 pandemic jeopardized firms' environmental behavior? Bridging green initiatives and firm value through the triple bottom line approach

“…Interestingly, contrary to our initial expectations and in line with the statements of Hermundsdottir et al (2022), the ecological dimension of TBL perspective was significant only for the normal period, while being statistically insignificant during the crisis.…”

“…This behavior is due to the relationship between the Covid‐19, distress tolerance and fear (Salehi et al, 2023). According to Hermundsdottir et al (2022), less “green” firms are better able to maintain business operations after an external shock like the Covid‐19 because they are less shock‐prone and less future‐oriented. Also, governments may reduce financial support for environmental programs/innovation to financially support economic recovery programs (Gautam et al, 2022).…”

“…Indeed, prior research focused more on the overall impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on environmental change (Saadat et al, 2020), firms' stock market behavior (Arianpoor & Naeimi Tajdar, 2022) and risk‐taking (Shafeeq Nimr Al‐Maliki et al, 2023), firms' survival and strategy changes (Islam & Fatema, 2023), managerial behavior involving concern about the pandemic (Salehi et al, 2022) or, for example, consumers' behavior (Cruz‐Cárdenas et al, 2021). He and Harris (2020, p. 176) stated that “[the] Covid‐19 pandemic offers a great opportunity for businesses to shift towards more genuine and authentic [corporate social responsibility] CSR and contribute to address urgent global social and environmental challenges .” On the contrary, Zhang and Fang (2022, p. 2) noted that “ the pandemic accelerates uncertainty in firms' operating activities and revenue , resulting in unstable environmental behaviors ” while Hermundsdottir et al (2022, p. 1) concluded that “firms that were the most environmentally innovative before Covid‐19 were more impacted by Covid‐19 than less ‘green’ firms” . Such discrepancies indicate the first research gap represented by the hitherto ambiguous (and limited) evidence on the effects of the Covid‐19 pandemic on firms' green initiatives.…”

Hope-hype of green innovation, corporate governance index, and impact on firm financial performance: a comparative study of Southeast Asian countries

“…Researchers believe this also is due to the excessive usage of scarce resources, which further negatively impacts meeting the current generation's demand, and future generations' needs are compromised (Tan and Zhu 2022). This has sparked an interest in green innovation among policymakers and researchers, which is expected to be significant for achieving sustainable development and low-carbon societies without impacting firm financial performance (Zhang et al 2022) (Hermundsdottir et al 2022).…”

Vinculum of Green Innovation, Corporate Governance Index, and Impact on Financial Firm Performance: A Comparative Study of Two Southeast Asian Countries

“…This is due to the excessive usage of scarce resources, which further creates negative impacts on meeting the demand for the following generation, as well as future generation needs, is compromised (Tan, #2133. This has sparked an interest in green innovation amongst policymakers, and researchers, which is expected to be signi cant for achieving sustainable development and low-carbon societies (Zhang et al, 2022) (Hermundsdottir, 2022).…”