Examining the Impact of Green Intellectual Capital on Green Business Strategies: The Key Role of Absorptive Capacity and Environmental Ethics

Introduction:
In today's knowledge-based economy, focusing on intellectual capital is vital for maintaining competitiveness. Intellectual capital serves as a foundation for new resources that organizations can leverage to compete effectively. Its significance stems from the need for skilled employees, the rising value of customers, and an emphasis on learning and innovation, which drive organizational performance and value creation. This value manifests through innovation, productivity increases, cost reductions, and enhanced customer loyalty. Effective management of intellectual capital is crucial for organizational productivity and business performance. Moreover, there has been a growing focus on environmental protection and sustainable development principles. Green absorptive capacity, which includes acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation, enables companies to adapt to changing environments. Organizations with higher green absorptive capacity can better identify and utilize knowledge to develop valuable business strategies, promoting sustainable practices internally. A green business strategy is formed when companies integrate environmental regulations into their operations through ethical guidelines. Strong environmental ethics guide organizations to reduce pollution and invest in green initiatives. As noted by Chen and Kyung (2019), corporate ethical laws incorporate environmental concerns into decision-making, fostering green competitive advantages. Dena Tire Manufacturing Company should prioritize green intellectual capital, green absorptive capacity, and ethical regulations in its business strategy formulation. This approach is essential for achieving sustainability in manufacturing, especially given increasing public and policy pressures. Since no prior studies have focused on this area within Dena Tire Manufacturing Company, this research is both important and necessary. The primary goal of this study is to investigate the impact of green intellectual capital on green business strategy, considering the roles of green absorptive capacity and organizational environmental ethics.
 
Materials and Methods:
This study is applied in terms of its purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of its nature and method. The statistical population of this research consists of all managers and supervisors working at Dena Tire Manufacturing Company, totaling 365 individuals. To determine the sample size of this population, Cochran's formula was used, resulting in a sample size of 187 individuals. The sampling method used in this research is simple random sampling, and the data collection method is both library-based and field-based. The tool used in this research is a standard questionnaire derived from the work of Bagham and colleagues (2023), consisting of 35 questions. The questionnaire is designed in two sections: the first section collects general demographic information for descriptive statistics, while the second section contains questions related to testing hypotheses. The questionnaire is designed based on a five-point Likert scale, and to maintain the confidentiality of personnel information, the questionnaires were distributed anonymously among employees. The green intellectual capital section of the questionnaire includes three dimensions: green human capital, green structural capital, and green relational capital. The green intellectual capital scale consists of 14 items and was initially developed by Chen (2008) and validated in many studies (Yang et al., 2019). Green absorptive capacity includes 10 items and is adapted from the work of Pachakoo and colleagues (2018), which has also been validated by Wang et al. (2022) and Zhang et al. (2020). To measure green business strategy, 7 items developed by Bikaksioğlu and colleagues (2019) were used, which were previously validated by Banerjee et al. (2003). Additionally, to examine and evaluate ethical laws, a scale developed by Chang (2011) with 4 items was used, which was validated by Han et al. (2019) and Gu et al. (2020). To assess the reliability of the questionnaires, Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability were used. For determining the validity of the research tool, both face validity and content validity were employed, and for examining and confirming convergent validity, the average variance extracted was used. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics indicators reflect the current status of the statistical population regarding various variables, and inferential statistics were used to generalize the research results. In the inferential statistics section, structural equation modeling was employed, and Smart PLS version 3 and SPSS version 19 software were used for data analysis.
 
Findings:
The results of data analysis indicate that green intellectual capital has a positive and significant impact on green business strategy and green absorptive capacity. Green absorptive capacity positively and significantly affects green business strategy. Green absorptive capacity serves as a mediating role in the relationship between green intellectual capital and green business strategy. Organizational environmental ethics does not have a moderating role in the relationship between green intellectual capital and green business strategy.
 
Discussion and Conclusion:
This research explores how green intellectual capital influences green business strategy, focusing on the roles of green absorptive capacity and organizational environmental ethics at Dena Tire Manufacturing Company. The findings reveal a strong positive relationship between green intellectual capital and green business strategy, highlighting its importance in reducing environmental degradation and promoting sustainable practices while ensuring economic profitability. Additionally, green intellectual capital significantly enhances green absorptive capacity, which helps the company absorb and manage green knowledge from external sources. This capacity acts as a mediator in the relationship between green intellectual capital and green business strategy, facilitating the development of effective environmental policies. The study also indicates that corporate ethical laws positively moderate the relationship between green intellectual capital and green business strategy, although their impact was not statistically significant. Amid growing environmental concerns, companies are encouraged to adopt strong ethical principles, which can attract green talent, boost productivity, and enhance brand reputation. However, Dena Tire Manufacturing Company struggles with insufficient enforcement of environmental ethics, limiting the effectiveness of its green strategies. Without a strong commitment to these ethical values, the potential of green intellectual capital to drive sustainable practices remains unfulfilled.