**Hypothesis 5c (H5c).** *The External Environment Pressure has a Positive Moderating E*ff*ect on the Relationship between Value Co-creation Behavior and Financial Performance.*

The government's actions to improve the external environment such as improving the market mechanism, optimizing the innovative business environment of small and medium-sized enterprises, and formulating supporting policies, etc. can improve the level of innovation of enterprises [85]. In the foundation of value co-creation among enterprises, favorable external factors can improve the innovation performance of enterprises. Thus, we propose:

**Hypothesis 5d (H5d).** *The External Environmental Pressure has a Positive Moderating E*ff*ect on the Relationship between Value Co-creation Behavior and Innovative Performance.*

#### *3.4. The Moderating E*ff*ect of Internal Environmental Support*

Internal environment support such as the stability of the relationship between enterprises and the reputation of suppliers has an important impact on the results of the supply chain alliance [86]. We perceive that the internal support environment of the enterprise (three categories) will have an impact on the above changes. The recognition of the green strategy by enterprise managers, the relative stability of the green alliance, and the relatively high technology level of enterprises may promote co-creation between enterprises. Thus, we propose:

**Hypothesis 6a (H6a).** *The Internal Support Environment has a Positive Moderating E*ff*ect on the Relationship between Green Strategy and Value Co-creation Behavior.*

By strengthening coordination with suppliers and downstream members of the supply chain including retailers, enterprises will promote their own operation activities [87]. The middle-level supply managers of internal stakeholders also play an important role in the operation activities of enterprises [88]. We believe that the internal support environment of an enterprise will have a positive impact on the relationship between co-creation and operation performance. Thus, we propose:

**Hypothesis 6b (H6b).** *The Internal Support Environment has a Positive Moderating E*ff*ect on the Relationship between Value Co-creation Behavior and Operational Performance.*

The idea of managers determines the operation of an enterprise. At the same time, the relationship between an enterprise and its supply chain partners as well as its digitalization level, also become the key to improving the financial level and building sustainable competitiveness of an enterprise [6]. These internal factors will strengthen the promotion of co-creation on the financial performance of an enterprise. Thus, we propose:

**Hypothesis 6c (H6c).** *The Internal Support Environment has a Positive Moderating E*ff*ect on the Relationship between Value Co-creation Behavior and Financial Performance.*

Enterprise alliance can improve the internal support environment of enterprises, realize knowledge sharing among partners, and promote the innovation performance of enterprises [6]. The enterprise managers' emphasis on innovation and the enterprise's own digital ability also determine the enterprise's innovation ability. Thus, we propose:

**Hypothesis 6d (H6d).** *The Internal Support Environment has a Positive Moderating E*ff*ect on the Relationship between Value Co-creation Behavior and Innovative Performance.*

#### **4. Methodology**

#### *4.1. Research Process*

This paper conducted an empirical analysis on a sample survey of Chinese firms in the form of a questionnaire. The analysis of this paper was divided into four steps: (1) A reliability analysis was carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of sample extraction; (2) As the questionnaire involved many contents, principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out to screen out several important influential factors; (3) a validity analysis was used to show that there was a good distinction between various factors; and (4) hierarchical regression analysis was used to study the influence of each factor on co-creation and performance.

#### *4.2. Survey Development*

In this paper, each factor in the conceptual model was measured in multiple ways (see Figure 1). The questionnaire was divided into descriptive items (see Table 1) and measurement items (see Appendix A). Descriptive questions mainly included the basic information of the respondents and their companies. The measurement items were further divided into three parts: the first part describes the green strategy of the company and the cooperation between the company and each member of the supply chain on green technology; the second part analyzes the legal environment and international environment of the company; and the third part examines the company from the performance of cooperation, financial situation, and innovation ability. This paper adopts the Likert scale commonly used in other articles, in which "1" means "strongly disagree" and "5" means "strongly agree".

To develop a structured questionnaire, a comprehensive review of the related literature was undertaken. In this study, value co-creation with supplier (VCS) was measured from four dimensions including whether enterprises and suppliers could adopt a positive attitude and cooperative behavior; jointly design products and systems to meet production demand; standardize the relationship of responsibilities, rights, benefits and some behaviors in the process of value co-creation; and establish a benefit distribution mechanism [89]. Value co-creation with competitor (VCC) was measured from four dimensions including whether enterprises and competitors can adopt a positive attitude and cooperative behavior; share information, technology and resources to improve competitive advantage; standardize the relationship of responsibilities, rights, benefits and some behaviors in the process of value co-creation; and establish a benefit distribution mechanism [90]. Value co-creation with retailer (VCR) was also measured from four dimensions including whether enterprises and retailers could adopt a positive attitude and cooperative behavior; receive retailers' feedback in time and let retailers participate in product design and development; standardize the relationship of responsibilities, rights, benefits and some behaviors in the process of value co-creation; and establish a benefit distribution mechanism [91].
