Why customer knowledge is not enough: supply chain integration and environmental strategic ambidexterity as drivers of green product innovation

Purpose This study examines how knowledge-intensive organisations develop green product innovation. Specifically, it examines how external knowledge generated through customer collaboration is transformed into green product innovation, highlighting the roles of supply chain integration and environmental strategic ambidexterity. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm, the study develops a conceptual model linking customer collaboration, supply chain integration, environmental strategic ambidexterity, and green product innovation. The model is empirically tested using survey data from 301 medium-sized manufacturing firms, analysed through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings The results show that customer collaboration contributes to green product innovation through supply chain integration and environmental strategic ambidexterity. Supply chain integration facilitates the alignment of externally generated knowledge, while environmental strategic ambidexterity enables its transformation into green product innovation. These findings show that green product innovation emerges through the alignment and transformation of externally generated knowledge, with environmental strategic ambidexterity emerging as its strongest predictor. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by reconceptualising green product innovation as a multi-stage knowledge process involving knowledge generation, knowledge alignment, and knowledge transformation. It shows that customer knowledge alone is insufficient to develop green product innovation unless it is aligned through supply chain integration and transformed through environmental strategic ambidexterity. It also advances environmental strategy research by introducing environmental strategic ambidexterity as a higher-order capability.