Dynamic capabilities for strategic green advantage: green electricity purchasing in North American firms, SMEs, NGOs and agencies

North American businesses, social economy organisations and government agencies are tackling the challenges of declining non-renewable energy resources and climate change by voluntarily purchasing green electricity (GE). This study uses a survey of 213 organisations that voluntarily purchase GE to test the influence of green institutional and green resource-based factors on the purchase decision. Components of green institutional theory and the green resource-based view of the firm were found to have only a secondary or indirect influence on the voluntary decision to purchase GE. In contrast, the overwhelming importance attributed by respondents to the role of champions suggests that internal agency should be incorporated into future studies examining voluntary environmental decisions from an organisational perspective. The dynamic capabilities process, defined as the interaction between champions and environmental structures, can generate strategic green advantage if champions use environmental structures to emphasise: 1) environmental benefits; 2) marketing and green image benefits; 3) the GE purchase as a hedge against fossil-fuel price uncertainty.