Digital and intelligent empowerment: Can big data capability drive green process innovation of manufacturing enterprises?

This research takes manufacturing enterprises with big data capability as the research object, based on organizational decision-making theory and planned behavior theory, the mediation effect model of “capability-intention-behavior” is constructed. It uses econometric models to explore the impact and conduction process of big data capability on green process innovation. The results show that big data capability have an obvious direct effect on green process innovation. By examining the mediation effect test, we find that green innovation intention partially mediates the relationship between big data capability and green process innovation. Then a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fs QCA) is used in this paper to analyze the causal complexity between big data capability and green process innovation, and to identify six effective configuration paths. According to the results, the synergy of big data acquisition capability, big data analysis capability and big data insight capability is crucial for high green process innovation, where big data insight capability plays a central role and big data acquisition capability or analysis capability and green innovation intention play a marginal role. According to the heterogeneity test, it is found that big data capability has stronger roles in the eastern region in China; green innovation intention has a stronger impact in the central and western regions in China. As enterprise-scale increases, the impact of big data capability on green process innovation increases and then declines, while the impact of green innovation intention on green process innovation continues to decline.