Navigating Green Innovation in High-Tech Manufacturing: The Roles of Customer Concentration and Digital Transformation

The increasingly environmental issues pose challenges to the economic development of countries, particularly hindering industrial transformation in developing nations. This study, grounded in the Resource-Based View, examines factors influencing green innovation in high-tech manufacturing firms. Market interactions and digital technologies significantly impact resource investments in green innovation. Using data from Chinese high-tech manufacturing firms from 2007 to 2021, the study reveals that customer concentration negatively affects green innovation, while digital transformation promotes it and mitigates the inhibitory effect of customer concentration. To explain this mechanism, green innovation is divided into green process innovation and green product innovation, and the effect of customer concentration is more pronounced in green product innovation. Further testing discusses the roles of the external environment, internal governance, and manager characteristics. Specifically, product market competition and political resources influence firms’ reliance on major customers, allowing digital technologies to optimize resource allocation for green innovation. In terms of internal governance, flexibility and regulatory strength alter the emphasis firms place on green innovation, with higher governance efficiency reducing dependency on major customers. Managerial characteristics, particularly managers’ rationality, determine the importance placed on digital technologies versus customer demands, leading to varied investment decisions in green innovation. Our findings provide valuable insights for optimizing resource allocation and enhancing green innovation investment, thereby effectively promoting sustainable regional economic development.