Green Entrepreneurial Orientation, Green Innovation and Competitive Advantage among Small and Medium Enterprises: The New Entrepreneurial Revolution

There is growing concern about environment. In view of significant socio-economic contribution of SMEs across countries, this sector plays a key role in achieving ‘net-zero’ carbon emission. Yet, the underlying mechanism of green entrepreneurship is still at its nascent stage and firm posture in the adoption of green concept has not been given ample attention. The study contributes to the wide literature by assessing the effect of green entrepreneurial orientation, the dual nature of green innovation including green radical and green incremental innovation on competitive advantage. The study develops a conceptual framework to assess the relationship among the different variables and competitive advantage in a small economy island, Mauritius. The study uses a structured questionnaire to collect data among SMEs in Mauritius. SPSS was used to conduct descriptive analysis and regression analysis followed by AMOS to conduct structural equation modelling to examine the model. The study found that green entrepreneurial orientation, green incremental innovation directly affects competitive advantage but the direct effect of radical innovation on competitive advantage was not supported. Radical and incremental innovation mediates the relationship of green entrepreneurial orientation on competitive advantage.