Linking green intellectual capital, ambidextrous green innovation and firms green performance: evidence from Pakistani manufacturing firms

PurposeGiven the importance of environmental protection and the crucial role of manufacturing firms in environmental degradation, the purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of green intellectual capital (GIC) on firms' green performance (GP), mediating effects of ambidextrous green innovation (GI) and moderating role of technological turbulence (TT).Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative research approach with the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology to assess the proposed relationships among the constructs on a sample of 334 executives from 134 medium and large-sized manufacturing firms.FindingsThe findings show that GIC significantly impacts different aspects of GP, including green management, green process and green product performance. Moreover, exploitative and exploratory GI serves as mediators between GIC and firms' GP. Finally, the findings demonstrate that TT moderation enhanced the effects of GIC on exploratory GI, while decreasing the effects of GIC on exploitative GI.Practical implicationsThe research offers valuable insights and a novel strategy for manufacturing firms and policymakers to mitigate environmental degradation and attain sustainable GP by stimulating ambidextrous GI through green intangible resources.Originality/valueThis research adds to the current GIC, GI and GP literature by focusing on green environmental issues using the resource-based view (RBV) theory. This research also provides a significant theoretical and practical justification for explaining the relationships by differentiating ambidextrous GI between exploitative and exploratory GI's mediating effects and TT's moderating effects.