*6.1. Conclusions*

In this study, we have investigated the roles of environmental corporate social responsibility, shared vision capability, and resource slack in improving green innovation performance based on a sample of Chinese companies. We found that environmental corporate social responsibility is significantly associated with green innovation performance, and shared vision capability mediates the environmental corporate social responsibility– green innovation performance relationship. Our findings also indicate that, when the level of resource slack is higher, the relationship between environmental corporate social responsibility and green innovation performance can be stronger.

This study makes three major contributions to extant literature and practices. Firstly, it provides a better research model for comprehending both the direct and indirect impacts of environmental corporate social responsibility on green performance. By concentrating on the mediating effect of shared vision capability, which is overlooked in a number of prior studies, we emphasize the collective understanding of a firm's vision to maximize the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility on green innovation performance.

Secondly, the study offers empirical evidence that resource slack has an indirect effect (moderating role) on the link between environmental corporate social responsibility and green innovation performance. Though the significance of resource slack was acknowledged in prior studies [78,79], its moderating effect in the environmental corporate social responsibility–green innovation performance relationship remains somewhat ambiguous. Our findings expand the extant literature and enhance our understanding of the moderating role of resource slack on the influence of environmental corporate social responsibility on green innovation performance, which offers firms more measures to improve green innovation performance.

Finally, the study empirically examines the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility on green innovation performance and takes shared vision capability as a mediator and resource slack as a moderator in the Chinese context. In recent years, the central government has issued strict environment protection regulations encouraging firms to save energy and reduce emissions in the production process, which is aimed at realizing the goals of peak emissions and carbon neutrality by 2060. Due to the policy background and unique business environment, firms in China can have different performances in environmental corporate social responsibility, shared vision capability, resource slack, and green innovation performance. Therefore, our findings offer a well-timed and discerning contribution to comprehending the role of environmental corporate social responsibility in the Chinese business context.

### *6.2. Limitations and Directions for Future Research*

There are some limitations to the study. Firstly, it explores the causality in the environmental corporate social responsibility–green innovation performance relationship. Although the study tests the direct impact of environmental corporate social responsibility on green innovation performance, the mediating role of shared vision capability and the moderating role of resource slack between them via time-lagged measures for the main variables, there are difficulties in making causal inferences due to the correlational design of the research. The conclusions of the study provide the directionality of the environmental corporate social responsibility–green innovation performance relationship, which is developed by more theoretical than empirical perspectives. Moreover, in the future, a longitudinal study design can be used to explore the complicated relationships between environmental corporate social responsibility, shared vision capability, resource slack, and green innovation performance, which can make the conclusions more precise and generalized.

Secondly, the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility on green innovation performance can be divergent for firms in different cultures. The study relied on a survey of Chinese employees and thus such a cultural effect may exist. Future studies can validate the research in different countries to confirm the generality of the research model.

Thirdly, the study collected self-reported data using a questionnaire. Although we have purposefully obtained primary data, each questionnaire with four main variable measurement scales and a basic characteristics information form is filled out by one employee according to his/her own subjective evaluation, which may involve some deviation. Future studies can adopt public secondary data to test our research model and compare the results with our study in order to strengthen the robustness of the research conclusions.

Finally, the study focuses on the mediating role of shared vision capabilities, and the moderating role of resource slack in the environmental corporate social responsibility–green innovation performance relationship on the basis of social identity theory and resourcebased theory. Future studies can explore contextual factors (e.g., green organizational climate and institutional pressures) that serve as moderators. Moreover, the study has bridged the relationship between environmental corporate social responsibility and green innovation performance through shared vision capability. Future studies can also consider dynamic capability, corporate social capital, and green trust as mediators to deepen the study of the environmental corporate social responsibility–green innovation performance relationship. Meanwhile, not only social identity theory and resource-based theory but also resource slack theory can be a theoretical basis for exploring the relationship between

environmental corporate social responsibility and green innovation performance. Therefore, future studies can adopt the resource slack theory to further investigate the environmental corporate social responsibility–green innovation performance link.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, R.R. and W.C.; methodology, R.R.; software, R.R.; validation, Z.Z.; formal analysis, R.R.; investigation, W.C.; data curation, W.C.; writing—original draft preparation, R.R.; writing—review and editing, Z.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** The original data of the paper can be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
