Internal organizational networks and green innovation performance in Chinese new ventures: the roles of corporate proactive environmental strategy and the regulatory quality

Purpose Synthesizing from the institutional theory and social network theory, this study investigates factors influencing green innovation performance in new ventures. Design/methodology/approach The findings show that the dimensions of internal social network; heterogeneous network and tie strength have significant positive effects on proactive environmental strategy based on a sample of 300 new ventures in China. Findings The results further support the mediating role of proactive environmental strategy on internal organizational networks and green innovation performance of new ventures. The study further investigated the moderating role of the regulatory quality as a dimension of institutional environment in China. The results show that the regulatory quality positively moderates the relationship between proactive environmental strategy and green innovation performance. Policy and managerial implications are further discussed. Originality/value Over the past 20 years, green innovation has increasingly attracted the attention of policymakers and scholars. However, most studies have focused on mature ventures, and little attention has been given to how newly established ventures attain green innovation performance.