Environmental stewardship: A meta analytic review of green absorptive capacity and dynamic capabilities

Purpose Following an increased focus on strategic organizational capabilities and corporate sustainability by industry and academia in recent years, this research offers a meta-analytical examination and establishes a framework for businesses’ perspectives on green absorptive capacity (GAC) and green dynamic capabilities (GDC) and the three facets of environmental stewardship: green innovation and adoption (GIA), sustainability (SUS), and green strategy, practices, and performance (GPP), including its antecedents, consequences, and conditional factors across industries. Design/methodology/approach Environmental stewardship is getting increased attention and investment in corporate sustainability initiatives worldwide; however, it has received no conceptual attention in the selected business capabilities context. Thus, this meta-analysis was conducted, synthesizing findings from 48 correlations across 29 studies to examine the relationships between GDC/GAC and various antecedents and outcomes. Findings Businesses’ GDC/GAC are correlated with antecedents such as leadership style, knowledge capital, sharing, and sourcing; however, their relationship with technologies like artificial intelligence and big data analytics remains unclear due to scarce studies and reliance on factors like organizational readiness. GDC/GAC are also associated with and impact outcomes, including sustainability and GPP. Originality/value This meta-analytic study enhances the literature on GDC/GAC, providing valuable guidance for managers, strategists, and policymakers to understand these crucial capabilities and develop a proactive, reorganized, multidimensional, sustainable approach in businesses. It highlights theoretical and practical implications, discusses study limitations, and suggests future research directions.