2.1. Green Product Innovation
Green product innovation refers to the practice of introducing green concepts in the stages of product design, production, and marketing, with the aim of minimizing the energy consumption of new products throughout their entire life cycle (including production, distribution, use, and disposal stages) and maximizing the reduction of negative impacts on human health and the natural environment [
18]. Green product innovation can not only meet the requirements of ecological and environmental protection, but also create new market opportunities for companies, helping them maintain a competitive advantage [
19]. Green product innovation is different from traditional product development, which focuses on integrating manpower, tools, and technology to introduce new products quickly, capture market opportunities, and promote economic benefits [
20]. Green product development requires the integration of manpower, tools, technology, and the environment while considering the product’s impact on the environment, which is more complex. Green products must achieve economic benefits while minimizing their negative impact on the environment [
21].
Currently, research on green product innovation mainly focuses on two aspects: First, studying the promoting or inhibiting effects of environmental regulations, policy, market factors, and technology on regional, industrial, and enterprise-level green products [
22]. This includes research on green subsidies, green credit policies, low-carbon pilot cities, consumer environmental demands, and the promotion and application of environmental protection technologies [
23]. The second aspect of research on enterprise green product transformation focuses on the models and value-added paths. Green hydrogen/green electricity substitution, raw material/product structural adjustment, process reengineering, digitalization, and intelligentization are considered as the mainstream low-carbon strategies for high-carbon emission industries [
24]. The green product innovation models include [
25]:
Environmental material innovation model: Using new environmentally friendly materials such as biodegradable materials, recyclable materials, and degradable materials to achieve product greenification.
Environmental process innovation model: Using new environmentally friendly processes such as clean production technologies, circular economy technologies, and energy-saving technologies to achieve product greenification.
Green design innovation model: Using ecological design, environmental evaluation, and other technical means in the product design phase to achieve product greenification.
Green marketing innovation model: Using new marketing methods such as green brand building and green marketing communication to achieve product greenification.
Green digitization model: Using digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence to achieve product intelligence and greenification.
In summary, the goal of green product innovation models is to achieve product greenification and sustainable development through technology and innovation, thereby promoting corporate sustainable development and environmental protection [
26]. Enterprises can choose suitable green product innovation models based on their own situation and market demand, and strengthen cooperation with stakeholders to jointly promote green product innovation.
2.2. Business Digitalization and Green Product Innovation from The Perspective of Digital Empowerment
The original meaning of the term “empowerment” refers to authorizing and granting additional authority to employees within an enterprise [
27]. With the rise of digital technology and industrial Internet, digital empowerment has gradually become a hot topic. Digital empowerment refers to the use of digital technology to transform organizational structures, business processes, and management systems, and to enhance the skills, knowledge, and confidence of employees [
28]. Digital empowerment is also the process in which enterprises are driven by the application of digital technology to promote their innovation and growth [
29]. It not only emphasizes the application of digital technology in enterprise innovation and operations but also focuses on enhancing the capabilities of the empowered objects [
30]. Currently, digital empowerment mainly includes the following three dimensions: structural empowerment, psychological empowerment, and resource empowerment [
31].
Structural empowerment focuses on improving objective external conditions (such as organizational, institutional, social, and cultural conditions) to empower organizations to take action [
32]. In the context of digitalization, structural empowerment emphasizes the use of digital technology to eliminate structural barriers that prevent enterprises from accessing information, opportunities, resources, and other structural obstacles [
14]. This type of digital empowerment will change situational conditions, improve organizational efficiency, and focus on using digital technology (such as DingTalk) to enhance organizational structure, policies, and channels, increase flexibility and response speed [
33].
Psychological empowerment focuses on improving social psychology and intrinsic motivation, or personal subjective interpretation (such as confidence, self-awareness, and self-confidence), so that employees feel that their fate is in their own hands [
34]. Digital technology can facilitate direct communication and free access to information among employees, as well as cross-functional and cross-departmental decision-making [
35], helping employees improve their skills and management abilities, and thereby enhancing their self-efficacy and unleashing their work potential [
12].
Resource empowerment can be described as the ability to improve the ability of those who lack resources to obtain, control, and manage them. As a means of connecting resources, digital technology is reflected in various methods of resource acquisition, such as virtual teams, crowdfunding, and other business models enabled by digital technology, which facilitate resource collaboration and innovation among multiple organizations [
36]. Through this type of digital empowerment, organizations can leverage specific capabilities to integrate the factors that stably improve digital transformation with the factors that create breakthroughs [
37]. Small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises are likely to achieve breakthroughs even with limited resources.
Digital empowerment provides a new perspective for studying enterprise green product innovation [
38], and traditional manufacturing enterprises can use digital empowerment to solve the dilemma encountered in the process of green product transformation, and effectively cope with uncertainty (such as highly turbulent environments or disruptive innovation behaviors) [
39].
Digital empowerment and business digitalization are closely intertwined and mutually reinforcing [
40]. Business digitalization (BD) represents the process and strategy of adopting and integrating digital technologies within an organization’s operations and processes [
10]. BD provides the necessary technological infrastructure and resources for digital empowerment to occur [
11]. In this sense, business digitalization serves as the driving force behind digital empowerment, creating an environment where organizations can effectively harness digital technologies to transform their operations and achieve sustainable innovation [
41]. The successful implementation of business digitalization paves the way for digital empowerment, empowering individuals and organizations to leverage digital technologies for green product innovation and overall business success [
42].
Through digitalization, enterprises can integrate digital technologies into various aspects of their operations and involve customers in emerging digital innovations [
43]. In the practice of green product innovation, digitalization will promote the exchange of new ideas between manufacturing enterprises and their value chain partners, further improving or creating green products. Digitalization structural empowerment is conducive to more accurately understanding the personalized needs of consumers and innovating enterprise product and process design solutions, thereby achieving flexible manufacturing and customized production, and providing customers with higher quality and more personalized products or services [
44]. For example, Tesla has implemented digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to optimize the energy efficiency of their electric vehicles, reducing their environmental impact. They also use digital technologies to monitor and optimize the performance of their solar and energy storage systems.
With the widespread use of information technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and machine learning, psychological empowerment is not limited to employees having greater management autonomy, but also includes freeing employees from simple mental activities [
45], which helps to produce high-knowledge-added-value products and services, and accumulate rich knowledge resources for green product innovation in enterprises [
46]. At the same time, psychological empowerment promotes communication, exchange, and learning among employees, enhances their subjective willingness to share knowledge, and helps improve their digital literacy [
47], allowing them to accurately judge and grasp relevant information in the process of green innovation, thereby enhancing their ability to innovate green products.
Digital technology resource empowerment has increased the speed of information transmission and enhanced employees’ perception and sensitivity to search for green information and innovation. By divesting underutilized resources within the enterprise, this can improve operational efficiency and reduce the cost of green product innovation [
48]. Furthermore, digital resource empowerment enables enterprises to obtain more customer information, understand customer preferences, and explore potential customer needs, which can help them acquire more external resources. By innovating green products based on customer needs, this model reduces the cost and inventory of green transformation, aligns with the enterprise’s green development philosophy, and facilitates enterprise green product innovation.
Based on the key role of business digitalizaon in enhancing green product innovation, it can be concluded that the three dimensions of digital empowerment—structural, psychological, and resource empowerment—are all beneficial to enterprise green product innovation. Chinese traditional manufacturing enterprises, empowered by digital technology in three dimensions, are profoundly influenced by their unique context and characteristics, driving innovation in green products. Structurally, these enterprises face complex supply chains and production processes. Digital technology enables the establishment of efficient and sustainable supply chain networks. Real-time monitoring and data support provided by digital supply chain management systems optimize environmental sustainability and green performance. Collaboration and information sharing among different departments enhance production efficiency and resource utilization, promoting green product innovation. Psychologically, there are differences in employee skills and culture. Digital empowerment offers training and education to enhance digital literacy and skills. Digital tools and platforms familiarize employees with the digital environment, boosting their ability and enthusiasm for participating in green product innovation. It also transforms company culture, fostering innovative thinking and green awareness among employees, driving the advancement of green product innovation. Regarding resource empowerment, these enterprises face challenges of low resource utilization efficiency and increasing environmental pressures. Digital empowerment optimizes resource utilization through fine monitoring and management of energy, water resources, and more. It also facilitates the acquisition and utilization of external resources, such as through digital marketing and customer relationship management systems, driving the development and innovation of green products.
In conclusion, in the realm of Chinese traditional manufacturing enterprises, digital empowerment in the dimensions of structure, psychology, and resources significantly impacts supply chain optimization, employee capability enhancement, and resource utilization efficiency, driving the development of green product innovation. Embracing digital empowerment allows these enterprises to better adapt to environmental changes, enhance competitiveness, and contribute to sustainable development and green transformation. Therefore, this article proposes the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1 (H1). Business digitalization is beneficial in promoting manufacturing enterprise green product innovation.
2.3. The Mediation Effect of Resource Integration and Reconfiguration
2.3.1. Theoretical Foundation
From the perspective of sustainable competitive advantage believe that understanding the internal mechanisms is the fundamental issue of maintaining competitive advantage under market equilibrium forces, which has gradually evolved into important theories such as resource-based view (RBV) [
49] and dynamic resource management theory [
50].
RBV was first proposed by Wernerfelt [
51] and later conceptualized by Barney [
52]. RBV believes that resources are tangible or intangible assets, abilities, processes, knowledge, information, and other production factors that a company owns or controls and can be used to produce and improve operational efficiency [
53]. Different companies have different resources, and resources cannot easily flow between companies. Competitors cannot imitate or substitute them in the short term, thus creating a specific resource advantage that forms an isolation mechanism and a competitive advantage for the company [
54]. Only resources that meet the VRIN criteria (valuable, rare, inimitable, nonsubstitutable) can create value that exceeds competitors for the company [
55].
Effective resource management is crucial for creating value because the way resources are utilized is just as significant, if not more, than the mere ownership or possession of those resources. In other words, it’s not enough to simply have access to resources; it’s how those resources are allocated, utilized, and optimized that ultimately determines their true value. Resource orchestration involves making informed decisions about how best to allocate resources to achieve organizational goals, minimize waste, and maximize efficiency [
56]. By doing so, businesses can unlock the full potential of their resources and create value for themselves and their stakeholders. Resource management is a micro foundation for achieving key capabilities and resource bundling, and can effectively explain how managers integrate, bundle, and leverage resources to form key capabilities for gaining competitive advantage for the enterprise. Resource management includes three basic processes [
50]: firstly, resource construction (i.e., resource structuring), which refers to the acquisition, accumulation of valuable resources, and the disposal of useless resources to build a resource pool that is necessary for the development of the enterprise; secondly, resource bundling (i.e., resource capability), which refers to the early stage of learning and integrating resources to enhance the company’s capabilities; thirdly, resource leverage (i.e., resource leveraging), which refers to the process of releasing valuable resources through the combination of resources and capabilities to achieve value transmission. In each resource management process, resources are a necessary condition for sustainable competitive advantage, and the capabilities matching the development stage based on scattered resources are intermediate products.
Resource management theory serves as a fundamental framework for understanding the effective utilization of resources in creating value and gaining a competitive advantage [
57]. It emphasizes the significance of resource allocation and orchestration within an organization, highlighting that the way resources are managed and integrated is crucial for maximizing their potential and achieving organizational goals. By delving deeper into the concepts and principles of resource management theory, the research framework can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mediating variables. In the context of this study, resource management theory can be applied to explain how resource integration and resource reconfiguration act as mediating variables between digitization and green product innovation. Resource integration involves optimizing resource allocation and utilization within the organization, facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing among stakeholders involved in the green product innovation process. This aligns with the resource management processes of resource construction (acquisition and accumulation of valuable resources) and resource bundling (integration of resources to enhance capabilities).
Furthermore, resource reconfiguration, which entails reallocating and recombining existing resources to support new strategic initiatives, may have a limited impact in the specific context of green product innovation in Chinese manufacturing firms. It is important to examine and discuss the challenges and potential barriers associated with resource reconfiguration, particularly within the realm of green innovation. By addressing these challenges, organizations can effectively leverage their resources and capabilities to drive green product innovation.
In the digital economy, production resources have expanded beyond traditional factors like labor, land, and capital [
58]. Digital technology has emerged as a new resource that is gradually integrated into the entire process of enterprise production and operation, significantly impacting green innovation [
59]. The process of digitalization is accompanied by iterative upgrades in organizational capabilities [
60]. As a novel economic resource for value creation, digital technology resources improve resource deployment by accurately integrating and reconfiguring resources.
By applying resource management theory to the context of digitalization and green product innovation, we can gain a deeper understanding of how organizations integrate and reconfigure their resources to drive sustainable innovation. Resource management theory helps explain how firms effectively deploy digital technology resources to enhance their capabilities for green product innovation. Digital technology resources not only serve as tools for process optimization and efficiency improvement but also enable companies to access and analyze large amounts of data, leading to better decision-making and the development of eco-friendly products. Integrating digital technology resources into the overall resource pool enhances firms’ ability to innovate, collaborate, and respond to environmental challenges.
Furthermore, resource management theory highlights the importance of resource integration and reconfiguration. Resource integration involves optimizing the allocation and utilization of resources, both traditional and digital, to enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing within the organization. Digitalization facilitates seamless information flow and collaboration, enabling firms to effectively integrate resources across different departments and stakeholders. Resource reconfiguration, on the other hand, involves the reallocation and recombination of resources to support new strategic initiatives. In the context of digitalization and green product innovation, firms may need to reconfigure their resources to align with sustainability goals and leverage digital technology in their product development processes.
By deepening the integration of resource management theory into the research framework, the study can provide a more comprehensive analysis of the mediating variables, enhancing the understanding of the relationship between digitization and green product innovation in Chinese manufacturing firms.
In conclusion, the integration of digital technology resources into the resource pool of organizations has significant implications for green product innovation. Leveraging resource management theory as the theoretical foundation allows us to better comprehend the mediating variables of resource integration and reconfiguration in the context of digitalization and their impact on green product innovation.
2.3.2. Resource Integration
In accordance with the resource-based view (RBV), the process of resource integration involves efficiently identifying, procuring, and distributing external resources [
61]. This refers to the notion that businesses must not only possess resources, but also effectively integrate them into their operations in order to create competitive advantages and achieve organizational objectives [
62]. By leveraging external resources in a strategic and effective manner, businesses can enhance their capabilities and achieve sustainable growth in their respective markets.
Digitalization enables enterprises to integrate internal and external resources, by utilizing digital technologies to improve their organizational efficiency and explore new innovation opportunities. This can enhance their green innovation research and development capabilities, enabling enterprises to produce more green products through green design and ultimately achieve their fundamental green goals. Digital technology provides enterprises with the conditions to acquire resources, allowing organizations to process, improve and take action on digital resources [
63]. The rise of digital information technology has increased the level of information digitization, enabling information to be decoupled from devices and facilitating real-time transmission, storage, and conversion [
64]. This digital decoupling enhances an organization’s ability to perceive the external environment, enabling timely access to rich information and the ability to make corresponding adjustments based on the acquired information, thus improving the organization’s agility in responding to the external environment [
65]. Therefore, enterprises possessing high-level digital business intensity can leverage digital technologies to obtain technical information and knowledge related to their business processes. This improves their information acquisition capabilities, thereby facilitating their ability to respond to environmental changes, identify market opportunities, and develop strategies for green product development. Moreover, enterprises can utilize digital technologies to identify high-quality resources and redundant resources, and promptly transfer the redundant resources to other departments or organizations that need them. Additionally, enterprises can collaborate with other departments to engage in green product innovation activities targeting these redundant resources, thereby fully utilizing them and reducing resource depreciation losses and inventory costs. Furthermore, the digitalization of internal business processes within an enterprise promotes the quick flow and sharing of information resources across various business departments, facilitating the integration of existing research and development-related resources. This enables employees to effectively utilize relevant organizational resources to conduct research and development activities, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness of green product development (e.g., shortening the R&D cycle and achieving higher profits/investment returns).
Furthermore, it is essential to consider the specific context of China in understanding the mediating role of resource integration between business digitalization and green product innovation. China’s unique business environment, characterized by its large-scale manufacturing sector, evolving digital landscape, and increasing emphasis on sustainability, shapes the dynamics of resource integration and its impact on sustainable innovation outcomes [
35]. In the Chinese context, organizations face distinct challenges and opportunities in integrating resources effectively to drive green product innovation. The rapid pace of technological advancements and digital transformation in China’s manufacturing industry necessitates a comprehensive understanding of how resource integration mediates the relationship between business digitalization and green product innovation. Several studies have explored the role of resource integration in facilitating innovation in Chinese manufacturing enterprises [
66,
67]. However, there remains a need to specifically examine the mediating effect of resource integration in the context of business digitalization and its impact on sustainable innovation outcomes within the Chinese manufacturing context.
Building on the existing literature and the unique characteristics of the Chinese context, the following mediation hypotheses are proposed:
Hypothesis 2 (H2). Resource integration plays a mediating role in the relationship between business digitalization and green product innovation.
2.3.3. Resource Reconfiguration
Resource reconfiguration refers to the appropriate transformation undertaken by enterprises, involving continuous or periodic asset rearrangement, business model redesign, and organizational structure adjustments [
68]. It fundamentally changes organizational design principles, such as altering functional and departmental organizational principles, breaking through rigid corporate situations, and achieving new benefits. The ability of enterprises to reconfigure resources means that they can recombine and restructure resources, thereby achieving business model innovation [
69]. This is because resources form the basis of business models, and elements such as value proposition, value creation, value delivery, and value capture are all dependent on resources.
High-level digital business intensity helps enterprises overcome path dependence and achieve more flexible market responsiveness and green product innovation through dynamic resource reconfiguration [
70]. The rapid development of digitization has intensified the complexity and variability of the competitive environment, blurred the boundaries of enterprises, weakened their path dependence, and made it more favorable for them to engage in green product innovation activities through resource reconfiguration. Digital-enabled manufacturing enterprises can introduce new resources and capabilities through dynamic resource reconfiguration, achieving diversified product and service innovation to break path dependence and respond to market changes and demand [
71]. For example, by introducing new R&D teams or partners, a diversification of technology and talent can be achieved, thereby promoting green product innovation. Meanwhile, the high-level digital business intensity of enterprises helps to increase the frequency of communication among various business links within the organization, improve the sharing of knowledge both internally and externally, and improve organizational learning and adaptation capabilities [
72]. The application of digital technology can lower the cost of communication between members, improve the efficiency of communication and information exchange, increase the heterogeneity of resources and knowledge, and promote collaborative innovation among different members [
73]. This increases the possibility of launching green product innovations by strengthening internal knowledge management, improving employee skills and knowledge and responding to market demand and challenges.
In summary, digitalization of manufacturing enterprises can overcome path dependence, break old thinking and patterns, and achieve more flexible market responsiveness and green product innovation through dynamic resource reconfiguration.
Understanding the role of resource reconfiguration in the Chinese context is essential for comprehending the mechanisms through which business digitalization contributes to green product innovation outcomes. China’s manufacturing landscape, characterized by its dynamic market conditions, evolving regulatory environment, and increasing emphasis on environmental sustainability, presents unique challenges and opportunities for resource reconfiguration in driving sustainable innovation [
2]. Several studies have examined the role of resource reconfiguration in facilitating innovation in Chinese manufacturing enterprises [
38,
67]. However, there is a need to specifically investigate the mediating effect of resource reconfiguration in the context of business digitalization and its impact on green product innovation outcomes within the Chinese manufacturing context.
Taking into account the existing literature and the specific characteristics of the Chinese context, we propose:
Hypothesis 3 (H3). Resource reconfiguration plays a mediating role in the relationship between business digitalization and green product innovation.
Efficient resource integration provides support for the successful implementation of the green product innovation paradigm. However, the success of green product innovation paradigm may lead to established routines and institutional controls that can result in organizational rigidity. In the current turbulent market environment with increasingly diverse and personalized customer demands, enterprises need to go beyond resource integration and engage in resource reconfiguration [
74]. The main reason for resource management in enterprises lies in the fact that innovation in each green product or service involves the integration and reconfiguration of existing resources. The ability to integrate and acquire resources helps to discover and create opportunities, but to execute a green product innovation strategy, enterprises need to reconfigure their resources and capabilities. With the implementation of digitalization, the enterprise’s data analysis capabilities may be relatively improved compared to before, and the data analysis capabilities will bring incremental process innovation, further improving the reconfiguring ability and achieving business model adjustment [
75]. The ability to reconfigure resources helps to promote organizational evolution and improve adaptability, enabling enterprises to survive and develop in the digital era, and over time, improve their green innovation capabilities. Therefore, digitalization may continuously revise and optimize the enterprise’s ability to integrate resources by strengthening organizational resconfiguring capabilities, making the enterprise’s green product innovation model more compatible with environmental factors. Based on the analysis above, the following hypothesis is proposed:
Hypothesis 4 (H4). Resource integration and resource reconfiguration play a sequential mediating role in the relationship between business digitalization and green product innovation.
Based on the hypothesized analysis, this study constructs a multiple mediation model of resource integration and resource reconfiguration in the relationship between digital empowerment and green product innovation, as shown in
Figure 1.