Green Management Practices, Green Innovation, Organizational Culture and Sustainability of Multinational Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Abstract

Green management practices have become increasingly crucial for organizations seeking to maintain competitiveness while fulfilling environmental responsibilities. Multinational manufacturing firms in Kenya face growing international and domestic pressure to integrate sustainability into their operations to enhance competitiveness, comply with regulatory requirements, and meet stakeholder expectations. This study examined the relationship between green management practices, green innovation, organizational culture, and sustainability in multinational manufacturing firms in Kenya. Specifically, it investigated the direct influence of green management practices on sustainability, the mediating roles of green innovation and organizational culture on the relationship between green management practices and sustainability, and the joint effect of green management practices, green innovation, and organizational culture on outcomes. The study is anchored on the natural resource-based view, dynamic capabilities theory, institutional theory, and stakeholder theory. Adopting a positivist philosophy and explanatory research design, the study surveyed 95 managers from 95 multinational manufacturing firms using a census approach. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that green management practices significantly and positively influenced sustainability. Moreover, both green innovation and organizational culture fully mediated the relationship between green management practices and sustainability, while the combined effect of green management practices, green innovation, and organizational culture significantly enhanced sustainability outcomes. These results demonstrate that sustainability in multinational manufacturing firms is maximized when managerial practices, innovative capabilities, and a supportive organizational culture are aligned. The study contributes theoretically by empirically integrating green management practices, innovation, and organizational culture within a comprehensive sustainability framework, advancing the literature in developing-country manufacturing contexts. Practically, the findings offer guidance for managers to prioritize innovation and foster a sustainability-oriented organizational culture alongside implementing green practices, while policymakers are provided with evidence to design supportive frameworks that incentivize sustainable industrial practices. The study recommends further research to explore the moderating role of institutional pressures, digital green technologies, and organizational size on sustainability outcomes, as well as longitudinal designs to capture temporal dynamics in green management adoption.