Effects of Sustainability and Technology Orientations on Firm Growth: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing

Abstract

Prior literature from a cognitive perspective analyzing the effects of different content and structure of managerial cognition on sustainability are lacking. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the relationship between technology orientation, sustainability orientation, and firm growth. Sustainability development has received unprecedented attention in the 12th five-year plan of China, who is the world’s largest energy consumer. This study tested the model of Chinese manufacturing in the year when the 12th five-year plan was published. Under the conditions of transforming economy, this study also considers how distinct institutional and industrial contexts could affect the relations between strategic orientations and firm growth, thereby clarifying the context-based adoption of different strategic orientations for realizing high levels of firm growth.

Mediating role of strategic orientations in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance of Saudi SMEs

“…By cultivating interest in the knowledge of consumers and rivals, market-based companies can effectively adapt and respond to evolving consumer demands by providing new goods and services (Ali et al, 2020). Technology orientation also exhibits a significant effect on the performance of SMEs (β = 0.211, t = 3.009, p < 0.05), supporting the results of Hsu et al (2014) and Lei et al (2019). Therefore, technology orientation may encourage risk-taking, create innovative ideas that shape consumer behaviour and contribute to the growth of developing markets (Ali et al, 2020).…”

“…Gatignon and Xuereb (1997) have described technology orientation as being able and committed to obtaining and using considerable technical experience in innovative technologies. Lei et al (2019) also described technology orientation as the company ability to suggest or incorporate new technology, products or inventions. This description implies that the importance of consumers and longterm enterprise performance rely on the introduction of innovative technical solutions, goods, facilities or procedures (Kumar et al, 2018).…”

Business orientation and sustainable development: A systematic review of sustainability orientation literature and future research avenues

“…Sivathanu and Pillai (2019) suggested that SO does not significantly affect the SEP in a resource-constrained developing country context, but EO and TO significantly influence sustainable entrepreneurship (SE). Moreover, Lei et al (2019) found a positive association of SO and TO with firm growth. In addition, these authors further suggest that in fast-growing industries, firms with a high sustainability orientation had lower levels of firm growth to some extent.…”

“…More than 50% of total studies included in this review investigated the firm-level outcomes of deploying sustainability orientation. On the other hand, some recent studies have extended this debate and reported that the positive association between sustainability orientation and firm performance is negatively moderated by sustainability decision tradeoffs (Kautonen et al, 2020) and industry growth (Lei et al, 2019). There also exists some empirical evidence that suggests its negative association with sustainable entrepreneurship (Sivathanu & Pillai, 2019) and entrepreneurial bricolage (Hooi, Ahmad, Amran, & Rahman, 2016).…”

“…Others have drawn their focus on investigating its impacts on firm innovation adoption and innovation performance (e.g.,Aboelmaged & Hashem, 2019;Cheng, 2020;Loredo, Lopez-Mielgo, Pineiro-Villaverde, & García- Alvarez, 2019;Signori, Flint, & Golicic, 2017). Moreover, there is a plethora of empirical evidence that suggests the positive influence of sustainability orientation on sustainable entrepreneurial practices(Abdullahi et al, 2018;Ahmad, Rahman, Rajendran, & Halim, 2020;Hong, Jagani, Kim, & Youn, 2019;Muhammad Auwal et al, 2020;Shashi et al, 2018), and firm performance(Kautonen et al, 2020;Lei, Wu, & Fu, 2019;Muhammad Auwal et al, 2020;Shashi et al, 2018).…”