Unleashing green innovation: navigating the path with green inclusive leadership, green knowledge management and internal CSR communication

Purpose Drawing upon the natural resource-based view (NRBV), organizational learning (OL) and contingency theories, this paper aims to develop and test a theoretical framework that examines the impact of green inclusive leadership on green innovation in business-to-business (B2B) context. This framework further examines the simple and serial mediation of green knowledge acquisition and sharing and the moderation of internal corporate social responsibility(CSR) communication. Design/methodology/approach Using survey questionnaires, authors collected multiwave data from 215 middle managers from different manufacturing and production organizations operating in Pakistan. The hypotheses were inspected using the PROCESS macro. Findings According to the findings, green inclusive leadership and green innovation are positively associated, and green knowledge acquisition and green knowledge sharing are efficient serial mediators of this relationship. Furthermore, the results suggest that internal CSR communication moderates the serial mediation such that the indirect relationship between green inclusive leadership and green innovation was stronger at high levels of internal CSR communication rather than at lower levels. Practical implications This research offers implications for manufacturing industry leaders and policymakers. Green inclusive leadership nurtures green knowledge dynamics, making it vital for achieving United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and promoting ecological stewardship. Investing in green knowledge processes and transparent internal CSR communication can enhance sustainable innovation and align with broader sustainability goals in organizations predominantly operating under the B2B model. Originality/value By merging NRBV, OL and contingency theories and drawing links across different genres of literature, this study provides unique insight into leadership, knowledge management, corporate communication, sustainability and CSR and innovation in the B2B sector.