Identifying the Key Factors Affecting on Enhancing Green Innovation Capabilities in the Automotive Industry

These days, due to increasing environmental awareness, most manufacturers in various industries, such as the automotive industry, are under pressure by consumers, the rules and patterns of industrial competition around the world, and because of these increasing drivers, green innovation has become one of the most important strategic tools for achieving sustainable development in this industry. In the automotive industry, this issue requires focusing on identifying and developing green innovation capabilities and implementing innovative green initiatives and practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the key factors and indicators affecting the promotion of green innovation capabilities in the automotive industry.

This study which has been conducted in 1399, is applied in terms of purpose and is classified in the qualitative-quantitative researches. In order to identify the key factors affecting the promotion of green innovation capability in the automotive industry, the opinions of university professors in the field of technology and innovation management, managers, and experts in the automotive industry have been used via comprehensive review of theoretical bases, research background, and Delphi method. Also, to test the fitting of the theoretical model of the research, the structural equation model method has been used by AMOS software.

In this study, 47 indicators in the form of 12 key factors were identified and approved in the field of promoting green innovation capabilities in the automotive industry.

The results show that the key factors of stakeholder pressure and legal requirements, green R&D, green product innovation, and sustainable networking partnerships, respectively, have had the greatest impact on promoting green innovation capabilities in the automotive industry, that senior executives and policymakers in the automotive industry have to pay special attention to these capabilities, and should try to strengthen these factors.