Social media usage and SME’s green product innovation: the imperative role of environmental collaboration and digital leadership

As the world increasingly prioritises environmental sustainability, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must find innovative ways to develop green products. In the current digital era, social media has become an influential tool for SMEs to be involved in environmental collaboration and promote green product innovation. The present study proposes to discover the effects of social media usage on SME green product innovation, with the intermediating role of environmental collaboration and a mediating mechanism of digital leadership on the association between social media usage and environmental collaboration in SMEs of China. Utilising a quantitative cross-sectional survey, the research collected data from 336 SMEs and assessed it in partial least squares structural equation modelling. The outcomes narrated that social media usage positively affects environmental collaboration, leading to SME green product innovation. Furthermore, digital leadership supported the connotation between social media usage and environmental collaboration. The study offers theoretical and practical contributions for SMEs and provides valuable insights to policymakers while highlighting the need for further research.