Management Readiness for Green Innovation and Entrepreneurial Success: The Role of Green Supply Chain Integration, Green Knowledge Management, and Corporate Environmental Ethics

Abstract

With the acceleration of the Chinese shift to sustainable development, companies are highly demanded to change the managerial preparedness to environmental innovation into quantifiable green entrepreneurial results. This paper investigates the effects of management readiness for green innovation (MRGI) on the success of green entrepreneurship based on green knowledge management (GKM) and green supply chain integration (GSCI), and evaluates the mediating nature of corporate environmental ethics (CEE). Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire from middle‐ and senior‐level managers in manufacturing and high‐technology companies in the environmentally sensitive industries across key industrial areas in China. Of the 1200 questionnaires distributed, 378 valid responses were retained for analysis using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) in Smart‐PLS. The results indicate that the MRGI is a significant contributor to the GKM, GSCI, and green entrepreneurial success. GKM and GSCI partially mediate the relationship between MRGI and green entrepreneurship success, with GSCI demonstrating a stronger mediating effect. CEE enhances the impact of GSCI on green entrepreneurial success. Theoretically, the research expands green entrepreneurship literature by conceptualizing management readiness as a higher‐order strategic capability. In practice, it emphasizes how companies should enhance preparedness, knowledge bases, supply‐chain partnerships, and moral environmental investment to achieve green entrepreneurial success. The novelty of the research lies in integrating readiness, knowledge, supply‐chain, and ethical mechanisms into a single framework within the Chinese industrial setting.