Multi-Configuration Pathways for Green Technology Innovation in Emerging Markets

This study investigates how resource orchestration mechanisms shape green technology innovation (GTI) in emerging markets. Drawing on data from 308 manufacturing companies in high-tech zones in China, we employ fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to uncover the complex configurations of resources, capabilities, and contextual forces that jointly influence GTI. The empirical strategy includes fuzzy-set calibration, necessary condition analysis, truth table construction, and sufficiency assessment of multiple configurations. The results identify five minimized configurations associated with high GTI and four configurations associated with non-high GTI. The high-GTI configurations show that theoretically relevant antecedents are not indispensable in every successful path, whereas the non-high-GTI configurations reveal resource–capability mismatches, including weak resource configuration despite learning or green capability, resource configuration without effective leveraging, and GTL without sufficient learning and green capability. These findings highlight the contingent nature of resource orchestration in emerging markets and offer policy implications for enhancing firms’ green transformations.