Combining social exchange and inducement-contribution theory as our overarching theoretical framework, we examine innovative climate as a boundary condition and organizational trust as a mediating mechanism to explain when and how the employee-organization relationship (EOR) is associated with workplace innovative behavior. We conducted a field study using multi-source data to test our hypotheses. The results indicated that creativity positively predicted innovative behavior through organizational trust, and an innovative climate moderated the indirect effect of EOR on innovative behavior via organizational trust. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Facing severe environmental degradation around the world, green innovation is considered as an effective way to achieve sustainable competitive advantages. How to motivate firms to engage in green innovation is becoming increasingly important for both the practice and academics. Grounded in upper echelons theory, this study establishes a link between humble CEOs and corporate green innovation. The developed theoretical framework argues that CEO humility, an important but unexplored virtue and psychological trait, has positive effects on green innovation. Furthermore, we also propose that green business strategy mediates this relationship and the successful integration of marketing and technology could strengthen strategy implementation and make being green worthwhile. Supportive evidence is found for these ideas with empirical results based on a moderated mediation analysis of a sample of Chinese manufacturing firms. These findings extend the understanding of the importance of CEO characteristics for firm-level strategies and green achievements.

Being green is widely recognized as a proactive strategy to create economic value hand in hand with environmental sustainability in a new competitive landscape. Taking environment as commitment, righteousness, and opportunity, enviropreneurial marketing (EM) gives rise to environment-specific values and behaviors and is paving a way to achieve differential advantages over competitors by fulfilling responsibilities. Building on the tenets of the natural-resource-based view, we offer a deeper understanding of the framework by which EM could promote firm performance through green innovation. Empirical evidence, based on a survey from manufacturing firms in China, supports the developed theoretical framework with a moderated mediation analysis. Specifically, the adoption of EM is more likely to bring about better green innovation, in turn, improves firm performance. Moreover, it is observed that the closure mechanism acts as a negative moderator. When it is high, the development of green innovation capabilities is seriously constrained. These findings highlight that EM is jointly driven by executives and employees within the firm, rather than by external pressures.