Leveraging Industry 4.0 capabilities for innovation and environmental sustainability performance: evidence from Indian pharmaceutical sector

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between Industry 4.0 (I4.0) capabilities and environmental sustainability performance (ESP). It also investigates the mediating roles of explorative innovation (EXO) and exploitative innovation (EXI) in the effect of I4.0 capabilities on ESP. Furthermore, it assesses the moderating role of resource orchestration capability (ROC) on both EXO and EXI. Design/methodology/approach The structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from pharmaceutical companies. Purposive convenience sampling was employed, and a total of 530 responses were included for analysis using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), software. Findings I4.0 has a significant impact on EXO, EXI and ESP. Furthermore, EXO and EXI were found to partially mediate the relationship between I4.0 and ESP. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by offering a novel analysis of how I4.0 relates to ESP, while simultaneously investigating the mediating roles of EXI and EXO innovation, along with the moderating effect of ROC which is a relatively underexplored area within the pharmaceutical industry.