Green knowledge management and organizational green culture: an interaction for organizational green innovation and green performance

Purpose Based on the sharp decline in the quantity and quality of natural resources, many organizations are shifting their operations to an eco-friendly system. However, this objective cannot be achieved without capitalizing on green knowledge and innovation. The purpose of this study is to examine whether green knowledge management (GKM) strengthens organizational green innovation capabilities, leading to green performance. Moreover, considering culture as the buffering condition, the authors took it as the conditional boundary between GKM and green innovation and investigated if it impacts their relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors focused on the manufacturing and services firms’ managerial and non-managerial staff and collected data following the non-probability convenience sampling technique. The collected data were examined through structural equation modeling. Findings It is found that GKM is a significant positive predictor of organizational green innovation and green performance and strengthens their abilities in these areas. However, green innovation partially mediates between GKM and corporate green performance. It is also found that green culture strengthens the relationship between GKM and organizational green innovation. Originality/value This study’s findings provide confidence to organizational managers and related stakeholders to achieve sustainability goals by capitalizing on GKM and promoting green culture in their setup. This study is also among the pioneer studies investigating GKM as a unified system and linking it with environmental performance domains.