Stakeholder green pressure and enviropreneurial marketing: Insights from Japanese SMEs

Abstract

Despite the recent growth in research on analysing the influence of stakeholders' green pressure on firm performance, our understanding of the subject seems limited, especially regarding the positive and negative influence of many internal and external stakeholders and the mediating roles of environmental orientation and commitment. Analysing primary data from 317 Japanese SMEs, we found that environmental orientation has negative while environmental commitment positively influences firm performance. Besides, the findings also show that green pressure from regulators, competitors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and employees significantly influences the market and financial performance, followed by a discussion of relevant theoretical and practical implications.