The Influence Mechanism of Customer Orientation on Enterprise Green Innovation: Based on the Perspective of the Moderating Effect of Operational Capabilities

Enterprise green innovation driven by the market is a requirement in the new era to implement the new development concept and fulfill the “dual carbon” goals, integrate them into the new development pattern of “dual circulation”, and boost sustainable economic development. Using the moderated effect regression model and selecting data on manufacturing companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2023, this paper empirically examines the impact of the most important dimension of market orientation—customer orientation—on enterprise green innovation and its internal mechanism. Research findings: Firstly, customer orientation affects corporate green innovation via demand identification, knowledge acquisition, and optimal resource allocation. Reactive customer orientation boosts incremental green innovation through economies of scale, while a proactive one drives radical green innovation via the substitution effect. The alternating effect of the two makes the impact of customer orientation on green innovation exhibit an inverted U-shaped-curve relationship, first rising and then falling. Secondly, corporate operational capacity influences the realization of customer orientation’s effect on green innovation through the following four pathways: learning capability, financial capability, managerial capability, and decision-making capability. Enterprises with a strong operational capacity exhibit a flatter inverted U-shaped curve with a right-shifted inflection point, whereas those with a weaker operational capacity demonstrate a steeper curve with a left-shifted inflection point. Thirdly, heterogeneity analysis by enterprise type reveals that customer orientation does not exert a statistically significant direct impact on green innovation in state-owned enterprises. Conversely, an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between customer orientation and green innovation in private enterprises, with operational capacity serving as a moderating effect. Finally, regional heterogeneity analysis indicates that the moderating effect of operational capacity results in a rightward shift of the inflection point in the inverted U-shaped curve for enterprises in eastern regions, while causing a leftward shift for those in central and western regions. Therefore, when enterprises choose green innovation strategies, they should clearly identify the customer-oriented type, pay attention to the trend in demands, optimize supporting measures, enhance operational capabilities, and build an innovative enterprise.