The objective of this article is to explore the combined effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR), green transformational leadership and knowledge transfer on responsible green innovation and to analyse their impact on agribusiness business performance in the context of a developing country. There is no research that integrates joint effects on responsible innovation with a focus on process inputs and increased greening capabilities in agricultural units. Moreover, we have integrated transformational green leadership to better explain this impact as a differentiator. Results show both knowledge transfer and green transformational leadership have positive relationships with responsible green innovation, and the latter has a positive impact on environmental, economic and strategic performance dimensions. Overall, our results establish that CSR is an external driver that reinforces knowledge transfer with an emphasis on collaboration. CSR also reinforces green leadership functions through synergies in conjunction with green human resource management practices.