The Adoption of Green Knowledge Management in Startups: A Comparative Landscape

Abstract

In the context of the global twin transition towards digitalisation and sustainability, startups increasingly rely on Green Knowledge Management (GKM) to integrate environmental objectives into their core operations. Although GKM is widely recognised as a relevant enabler of sustainability-oriented entrepreneurship, the existing academic literature remains fragmented. It is often limited to single-country empirical settings and frequently treats GKM as a monolithic construct rather than a complex set of distinct organisational routines. This study addresses this critical gap by providing a comparative analysis of GKM adoption between startups operating in China and Europe. Grounded in Institutional Theory and the Dynamic Capabilities View, the study conceptualises GKM as a multidimensional construct comprising five sub-dimensions: green knowledge acquisition, storage, sharing, application, and creation. To examine whether these dimensions exhibit comparable patterns across the two distinct regions, the study utilises a cross-sectional survey of 679 startups, comprising 302 firms in China and 377 in Europe, employing measurement invariance assessment to ensure robust cross-group comparability. The findings indicate statistically significant differences across all five sub-dimensions, with Chinese startups reporting consistently higher average maturity scores than their European counterparts. Crucially, these results should not be interpreted as universal performance hierarchies. Rather, they highlight region-specific baseline profiles that may reflect differences in institutional environments, support structures, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. While the observed pattern is consistent across all knowledge dimensions, the study acknowledges the descriptive nature of these capability gaps without claiming strict causal identification of the underlying drivers. This study contributes by establishing an initial comparative benchmark for multidimensional GKM across contrasting institutional contexts. Furthermore, it provides an empirical foundation for future work to investigate the mechanisms linking institutional pressures and GKM development using advanced structural modelling. From a practical perspective, the findings suggest that sustainability support for startups should be tailored to regional conditions and to the specific knowledge processes that require strengthening.