Contemporary stakeholders persist in pressuring firms toward environmental stewardship, while dynamic organizations demonstrate high-level capability and strategically respond to market evolution and align operations toward sustainability. This study aimed at investigating the connection between environmental knowledge and awareness and product/service innovation, as well as the mediating roles of knowledge process capability-application dimensions and sustainable innovation, and the moderating effects of innovation orientation. Through a questionnaire, empirical data were collected from 354 bank employees operating in western Nigeria, whose bank ranked on the list as being the most sustainable bank in Nigeria in the 2024 sustainability ranking. SPSS and SmartPLS were used for data analysis and the testing of hypotheses. The findings showed a significant positive association between environmental knowledge and awareness and product/service innovation, and additionally, knowledge process capability-application and sustainable innovation significantly mediate the relationship between environmental knowledge and awareness and product/service innovation. Meanwhile, innovation orientation negatively moderates the relationship between environmental knowledge and awareness and knowledge process capability-application. However, innovation orientation did not moderate the relationship between sustainable innovation and product/service innovation. This study underscores the importance of knowledge management strategy and firm innovation orientation toward sustainability stewardship in service organizations and provides valuable theoretical insights for management scholars. An integrated dynamic capability, as well as absorptive capacity theories, underpinned this study.

Purpose- Sustainability themes have become watchwords of contemporary enterprises. Businesses are confronted with the challenges of integrating emerging stakeholders interests into operating strategies. Successful ventures capitalize on knowledge management to incorporate stakeholders demand into market offering. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between Knowledge management, corporate social responsibility, and firm performance. Design/methodology approach- Empirical data was collected from 220 participants drawn from various European firms who appeared in the 100 most sustainable corporation in the world in the year 2020 global ranking. Smart PLS was utilized in data processing and testing of the study hypotheses. Findings- The results show a positive direct association between the constructs of knowledge management and corporate social responsibility, knowledge management and firm performance, and corporate social responsibility and firm performance. However, the result of the mediation analysis of firm performance through corporate social responsibility shows no significant relationship. Research limitation/implication- The study limitation is associated with the development of a simple model of latent variables, which is usually not appropriate in complex investigation of this nature, therefore, the inclusion of second order variables are recommended to provide more insights. Practical implication- This study contributes toward the effective management of stakeholders interests through the deployment of knowledge management principles. Originality- The study advocate for the extension of knowledge management practices beyond organizational boundary to allow for effective stakeholders management. Thus, stakeholder’s management theory underpinned the study.

Contemporary stakeholders persist in pressuring firms toward environmental stewardship, dynamic organizations demonstrate high-level capability and strategically respond to market evolutions and aligned operations toward sustainability. The study aimed at investigating the connection between environmental knowledge and awareness and products/service innovation, the mediating roles of knowledge process capability-application dimension and sustainable innovation and the moderating effect of innovation orientation. Through questionnaire, empirical data was collected from 354 bank employees operating in Western Nigeria whose bank made the list of the most sustainable bank in Nigeria in 2024 sustainability ranking. SPSS and SmartPLS was used for data analysis and testing of hypotheses. The findings showed a significant positive association between environmental knowledge and awareness and products/service innovation, additionally, knowledge process capability-application and sustainable innovation significantly mediate the relationship between environmental knowledge and awareness and products/service innovation, while innovation orientation negatively moderate between environmental knowledge and awareness and knowledge process capability-application. However, innovation orientation did not moderate the relationship between sustainable innovation and product/service innovation. The study underscore the importance of knowledge management strategy, firm innovation orientation toward sustainability stewardship in service organizations and provide valuable theoretical insights for management scholars. An integrated dynamic capability and absorptive capacity theories underpinned the study.