Eco-innovation and exporting: Learning from innovation abandonment

Recent research finds that eco-innovators are more likely to export than conventional innovators. The result is surprising, given that eco-innovators typically face greater barriers to exporting, and the mechanisms explaining this phenomenon remain unclear. In this study, we argue that eco-innovators are more likely to experience innovation abandonment and that this greater exposure creates learning opportunities that may explain their higher export propensity. Applying parametric and non-parametric estimation methods to a panel of firms in Spain between 2008 and 2016, we find that eco-innovators are more prone than conventional innovators to abandon innovation projects. Furthermore, our results suggest that eco-innovators with past experience of innovation abandonment are more likely to export than those without such experience, indicating a learning effect. While this learning effect also applies to conventional innovators, our results imply that eco-innovators are more likely to encounter such learning opportunities, thereby enhancing their relative export propensity.