How and when green capabilities drive sustainability under the boundary condition of environmental attitude

Purpose This study builds on the natural resource-based view of dynamic capability to explore whether, how and when green dynamic capabilities (GDCs) contribute to green competitive advantage (GCA). Specifically, it investigates the role of marketing innovation capability (MIC) as a mediator and the effect of environmental attitudes (EA) as a moderator in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative design and deductive approach were employed using a three-wave time-lagged dataset collected from 218 managers and their subordinates to examine hypothesized relationships using IBM SPSS 28.0 and the PROCESS macro. Findings The empirical findings revealed that MIC mediates the positive relationship between GDCs and GCA. Furthermore, the results indicate that the mediating effect was stronger when EA was high than when it was low. Originality/value This study makes valuable contributions to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the interplay between GDCs, MIC and EA in shaping a firm’s GCA. These findings have significant implications for practitioners and policymakers in the hospitality and tourism industry, emphasizing the importance of developing GDCs and fostering EA to achieve superior performance through sustainable practices.