The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

On the drivers of eco-innovations: empirical evidence from the UK

On the drivers of eco-innovations: empirical evidence from the UK
On the drivers of eco-innovations: empirical evidence from the UK
The environmental economics literature emphasises the key role that environmental regulations play in stimulating eco-innovations. Innovation literature, on the other hand, underlines other important determinants of eco-innovations, mainly the supply-side factors such as firms’ organisational capabilities and demand-side mechanisms, such as customer requirements and societal requirements on corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper brings together the views of these different disciplines and provides empirical insights on the drivers of eco-innovations based on a novel dataset of 1566 UK firms that responded to the Government Survey of Environmental Protection Expenditure by Industry in 2006. By applying the Heckman selection model, our findings indicate that demand factors affect the decision of the firm to undertake eco-innovations whilst these factors exhibit no impact upon the level of investments in eco-innovations. Hence, we suggest that firms initiate eco-innovations in order to satisfy the minimum customer and societal requirements, yet, increased investments in eco-innovations are stimulated by other factors such as cost savings, firms’ organisational capabilities, and stricter regulations. Based on a quantile regression analysis, the paper offers interesting insights for policy makers, by showing that the stringency of environmental regulations affects eco-innovations of the less innovative firms differently from those of the more innovative firms.
eco-innovations, environmental regulations, organisational capabilities
0048-7333
862-870
Kesidou, Effie
8396f39f-1a71-4cc9-bfa2-b2d5af26214d
Demirel, Pelin
687c839d-b7dc-4914-972a-293ab9f014c2
Kesidou, Effie
8396f39f-1a71-4cc9-bfa2-b2d5af26214d
Demirel, Pelin
687c839d-b7dc-4914-972a-293ab9f014c2

Kesidou, Effie and Demirel, Pelin (2012) On the drivers of eco-innovations: empirical evidence from the UK. Research Policy, 41 (5), 862-870. (doi:10.1016/j.respol.2012.01.005).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The environmental economics literature emphasises the key role that environmental regulations play in stimulating eco-innovations. Innovation literature, on the other hand, underlines other important determinants of eco-innovations, mainly the supply-side factors such as firms’ organisational capabilities and demand-side mechanisms, such as customer requirements and societal requirements on corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper brings together the views of these different disciplines and provides empirical insights on the drivers of eco-innovations based on a novel dataset of 1566 UK firms that responded to the Government Survey of Environmental Protection Expenditure by Industry in 2006. By applying the Heckman selection model, our findings indicate that demand factors affect the decision of the firm to undertake eco-innovations whilst these factors exhibit no impact upon the level of investments in eco-innovations. Hence, we suggest that firms initiate eco-innovations in order to satisfy the minimum customer and societal requirements, yet, increased investments in eco-innovations are stimulated by other factors such as cost savings, firms’ organisational capabilities, and stricter regulations. Based on a quantile regression analysis, the paper offers interesting insights for policy makers, by showing that the stringency of environmental regulations affects eco-innovations of the less innovative firms differently from those of the more innovative firms.

Text
Kesidou_Demirel.doc - Author's Original
Restricted to Registered users only
Download (195kB)
Request a copy

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 15 January 2012
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 February 2012
Published date: June 2012
Keywords: eco-innovations, environmental regulations, organisational capabilities
Organisations: Southampton Business School

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 376499
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/376499
ISSN: 0048-7333
PURE UUID: 77a512e4-62ac-46b0-a04a-d56090590ba6

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 27 May 2015 09:23
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 19:44

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Effie Kesidou
Author: Pelin Demirel

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×