Impact of green technology innovation ambidexterity on the rhythm of internationalization: evidence from listed manufacturing firms in China

Rhythm of internationalization, defined as regularity of internationalization process,
affects firms’ internationalization performance because time compression
diseconomies reduce firms’ absorbing capacity and green trade barriers pose severe
obstacles. Rather than focusing on the impact of general green technology
innovation without constraints of context, this study examines the influence of green
technology innovation ambidexterity on the rhythm of internationalization within
the context of differentiated internationalization scope, internationalization extent
and internationalization depth. Green technology innovation ambidexterity contains
two types of technology innovation: green explorative technology innovation and
green exploratory technology innovation. China is adopted as a special case to be
considered, given the volume of its industrial production, the intensity of green
technology innovation, and the obvious pace of internationalization in the recent
years. With the two-way fixed effect model and listed manufacturing firms in China
from 2008 to 2016, this paper finds a significantly negative relationship between
firms’ green technology innovation ambidexterity and the rhythm of
internationalization; the results for moderation role of internationalization scope,
extent and depth are mixed. This study indicates that green technology innovation
ambidexterity helps firms pursue a rhythmic international progress, and the context
for maximizing the role of different types of green technology innovation is further
clarified. For green exploratory technology innovation, it could exert its best part
within larger scope, lower depth and extent of internationalization; for green
exploitative technology innovation, it could exert its best part within narrower scope
of internationalization. Therefore, this study provides the optimal portfolio of
internationalization for green technology innovation ambidexterity.