Unlocking corporate social responsibility and environmental performance: Mediating role of green strategy, innovation, and leadership

The Resource-Based View (RBV) philosophy examines the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental Performance (EP). This paper addresses the lack of scholarly attention to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in managing Environmental Performance (EP) in Indian industrial enterprises. A cross-sectional study using structured questionnaires was conducted on 500 participants from 10 prominent Delhi industrial organisations. This research found significant results among the variables using Partial Least Squares (PLS) software for the analysis of quantitative data collected from the respondents. The findings show that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a significant impact on environmental performance (Beta, T value, P values (0.174, 3.638, 0.000 for CSR and EP) and that green innovation (GI), green capacity (GC), environmental strategy (ES), and green transformational leadership (GTL) mediates the relationship. This study helps industry leaders and stakeholders enhance Environmental Performance and decision-makers to establish internal plans for long-term profitability and informed industrial governance.