Despite the significant increase in interest in sustainable business practices, decisions on switching to more environmentally friendly input materials are understudied. In a conjoint experiment, we presented 267 Finnish manufacturing firms with an opportunity to acquire an alternative, more ecological input material and investigated their willingness to switch to that material. We find that in general, firms are willing to substitute their current principal input with a more ecological alternative under conditions of functional parity. However, such willingness is contingent on the firm’s value creation structures. Specifically, if the products and processes driving the firm’s value creation rely more on tangible materials (high materiality), firms anticipate higher input-switching costs, which leads to inertia and slows the adoption of alternative, environmentally friendlier inputs. However, if a firm’s value creation is driven more by intangible assets, like intellectual property and amortizable development costs, input-switching costs appear lower. Such firms not only find it easier to adopt ecological inputs but may also derive greater benefit from leveraging the positive reputation effects associated with ecological improvements. By exploring how willingness to switch to an alternative input material is constrained by organizational structures, our findings contribute to research on input substitution and theories of external influence, like demand-side research, stakeholder theory, and ecological responsiveness.

尽管人们对可持续商业实践的兴趣大大增加，但仍未充分研究切换到更环保的输入材料的决策。在一项联合实验中，我们为267家芬兰制造企业提供了获得替代性，更生态的投入材料的机会，并调查了他们转向使用该材料的意愿。我们发现，总的来说，在功能均等的条件下，企业愿意用更生态的替代方式来替代当前的主要投入。但是，这种意愿取决于公司的价值创造结构。具体来说，如果推动公司价值创造的产品和流程更多地依赖于有形材料（高重要性），则公司预计投入的转换成本会更高，这会导致惯性，并减慢采用其他对环境友好的输入的速度。但是，如果公司的价值创造更多地由无形资产驱动，例如知识产权和可摊销的开发成本，那么投入转换成本就会降低。这些公司不仅发现采用生态投入更容易，而且还可以通过利用与生态改善相关的正面声誉效应而获得更大的收益。通过探索如何转换为替代性输入材料的意愿受到组织结构的限制，我们的发现有助于对输入替代和外部影响理论（如需求方研究，利益相关者理论和生态响应性）进行研究。如知识产权和可摊销的开发成本，投入转换成本似乎更低。这些公司不仅发现采用生态投入更容易，而且还可以通过利用与生态改善相关的正面声誉效应而获得更大的收益。通过探索如何转换为替代性输入材料的意愿受到组织结构的限制，我们的发现有助于对输入替代和外部影响理论（如需求方研究，利益相关者理论和生态响应性）进行研究。如知识产权和可摊销的开发成本，投入转换成本似乎更低。这些公司不仅发现采用生态投入更容易，而且还可以通过利用与生态改善相关的正面声誉效应而获得更大的收益。通过探索如何转换为替代性输入材料的意愿受到组织结构的限制，我们的发现有助于对输入替代和外部影响理论（如需求方研究，利益相关者理论和生态响应性）进行研究。