ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Why do Services and Manufacturing Firms
Envision Environmental Innovation Differently? A Path-Model Comparison
Angel Peiró-Signes1, María-del-Val Segarra-Oña1, Concepción Maroto Alvarez2
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1Management Department, 7D building, Cno. de Vera s/n, Universitat Politècnica, 46022 València, Spain
2Department of Applied Statistics, Operational Research, and Quality Department,
7A building, Cno. de Vera s/n, Universitat Politècnica, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2014;23(5):1691-1697
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ABSTRACT
Innovation and environmental awareness are crucial issues that actually build a firm’s competitive
advantages. In terms of manufacturing industries, several studies have been carried out to disentangle the variables
that help companies to orientate more effectively their innovations toward sustainability. In comparison,
although the service industry is increasing its economic weight, little research has been carried out in this
domain. In the present paper, we analyze the differences of eco-innovative behavior between Service and
Manufacturing industries. We retrieved 6,253 firms’ data from the Spanish panel of innovative activities
(PITEC database) and deployed a structured equations model (EQS) for each group to compare what variables
are influencing the willingness to be eco-innovative for each type of industry. Results show the differences in
impact that product orientation has on eco-orientation. The relationship between product-orientation and ecoorientation
in service firms is significantly different to that in manufacturing firms. In fact, product-orientation
impact is lower in service firms. Thus, while manufacturing firms show a similar impact of product and
process orientation on eco-orientation, process-orientation in service firms almost doubled the relative impact
of product-orientation on eco-innovation. These results may allow both policy makers and managers to make
the correct decisions regarding national, industrial and company strategy.