Purpose

This paper explores the nexus between lean operations, eco-product innovativeness, social performance, green performance and business performance. Both direct and indirect effects are tested among the variables under consideration in this study.

Design/methodology/approach

Data is garnered from 166 Ghanaian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) manufacturers. All hypothesized relationships are tested using partial least square-structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results suggest that lean operations has a significant positive effect on eco-product innovativeness, social performance, green performance and business performance. The results further indicate that eco-product innovativeness significantly influences green performance and social performance, but does not significantly influence business performance. The mediation procedure performed shows that eco-product innovativeness plays a complementary partial mediation role between lean operations, social performance, green performance and business performance.

Practical implications

The study provides enough evidence that informs managers that the application of lean operations should be a necessity instead of an afterthought when pursuing their sustainable performance targets. The study specifically enlightens Ghanaian managers and those in similar environs to substantially invest in lean operations to achieve eco-product innovativeness and contribute to the survival of the manufacturing sector.

Originality/value

In addition to expanding lean operations and environmental management literature, the study happens to be among the scant studies that has verified the direct and indirect effects between lean operations, eco-product innovativeness, social, green and business performances.

中文翻译：

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精益运营、生态产品创新、社会、绿色和商业绩效之间的联系：来自加纳制造业中小企业的经验证据

目的

本文探讨了精益运营、生态产品创新、社会绩效、绿色绩效和业务绩效之间的关系。在本研究中考虑的变量之间测试了直接和间接影响。

设计/方法/方法

数据来自 166 家加纳中小型企业 (SME) 制造商。所有假设关系都使用偏最小二乘结构方程模型进行测试。

发现

结果表明，精益运营对生态产品创新性、社会绩效、绿色绩效和业务绩效具有显着的正向影响。结果进一步表明，生态产品创新显着影响绿色绩效和社会绩效，但不显着影响企业绩效。所执行的中介程序表明，生态产品创新在精益运营、社会绩效、绿色绩效和业务绩效之间起着互补的部分中介作用。

实际影响

该研究提供了足够的证据，告知管理人员在追求可持续绩效目标时，精益运营的应用应该是必要的，而不是事后的想法。该研究特别启发加纳管理人员和类似环境中的管理人员大力投资精益运营，以实现生态产品创新并为制造业的生存做出贡献。

原创性/价值

除了扩展精益运营和环境管理文献之外，该研究恰好是验证精益运营、生态产品创新、社会、绿色和业务绩效之间直接和间接影响的少数研究之一。