Energy-Efficient Innovation and Firm Size: How Different Firms Respond to Different Institutional Pressures

Relying on the institutional and innovation theory, we argue that the institutional features of countries are significantly influencing energy-efficient innovation (EEI) activities, a relevant and peculiar type of environmental innovation. An analysis of a cross-sectional sample of more than 15,800 firms from nine European countries, drawn from the 2006-2008 Community Innovation Survey, confirms the hypothesis that regulatory and normative pressures spur the adoption of EEIs. Moreover, large firms emerge to respond to both pressures more than SMEs, yet the moderating role of firm size is found to be contingent on the type of EEI. In particular, large firms respond with more product EEIs when the normative pressures are strong, while they generate more process EEIs when regulatory pressures are high.