Effect of home-country corruption on sustainable resource management and innovation

Purpose The purpose of this study is to better understand how firms integrate sustainable resource management dimensions into their strategy as these firms reexamine how to support sustainability in our global business environment. To that end, the authors empirically investigate the relationship between firm-level research and development (R&D) and sustainable resource management, with particular consideration of how home-country corruption impacts this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a pooled regression to test the hypotheses on an unbalanced panel data set of 307 observations across six years. Findings The results show a positive relationship between innovation capacity and sustainable resource management. When moderated by home-country corruption, this positive relationship weakens in countries with lower corruption levels. Practical implications Firms interested in moving towards sustainable resource management must be deliberate and strategic about its R&D investments. Originality/value This paper extends extant literature on sustainable resource management, innovation and corruption by investigating the relationships hitherto under-researched despite the abundance of studies on the overall corporate social responsibility.