Technological knowledge coupling and green innovation in manufacturing firms: Moderating roles of mimetic pressure and environmental identity

In the prevailing low-carbon economy, the green innovation of manufacturing firms is to follow the inherent requirements of sustainable development and the responsibility of actively responding to environmental challenges. The process of green innovation heavily relies on technological knowledge; nevertheless, the impact of changes in the knowledge base on green innovation still lacks clarity. This article integrates knowledge-based, organizational identity, and new institutional theories, we use panel data of 247 A-share listed manufacturing firms in China from 2009 to 2019 to explore the impacting mechanism and boundary conditions of technological knowledge coupling on green innovation in manufacturing firms. By constructing a theoretical framework for the impact of the dynamic changes of the knowledge base on green innovation from the perspective of technological knowledge coupling, this study reveals a non-linear relationship mechanism between different technological knowledge coupling and green innovation. The results show an inverted U-shaped nonlinear relationship between existing technological knowledge coupling and green innovation, new and existing technological knowledge coupling and green innovation of manufacturing firms. Mimetic pressure and environmental identity have positive moderating effects on the relationships. The conclusions enrich the knowledge management and green innovation research fields and expand the application of organizational identity theory and new institutional theory in green innovation. Meanwhile, it provides a theoretical reference for manufacturing firms to choose appropriate knowledge coupling methods to implement green innovation under external mimetic pressure and internal environmental identity contexts.