Sustainability | Free Full-Text | The Impact of Relationship Trust, Environmental Protection Awareness and Regenerative Innovation on Environmental Performance: A Case Study of the Industrial Waste Industry

In order to expand on the scope of research on partnership governance, this study explored the impact of relationship trust, stakeholder environmental awareness, and regenerative innovation on environmental performance. The study participants were primarily employees of legitimate public waste disposal and treatment facilities in the six special municipalities of Taiwan (including domestic and overseas facilities). The investigation was conducted via a questionnaire survey. A total of 1000 questionnaires were distributed and 550 were recovered, of which 539 were valid, indicating an effective recovery rate of 53.9%. Data analysis was conducted by structural equation modeling. The empirical results showed that relationship trust had a significant and positive impact on stakeholders’ environmental awareness, which, in turn, had a significant and positive impact on regenerative innovation. Relationship trust had no direct and significant impact on regenerative innovation. Hence, the impact of relationship trust on regenerative innovation is mediated by stakeholders’ environmental awareness. The results also showed that regenerative innovation had a significant and positive impact on environmental management performance, and no significant impact on environmental operational performance. Hence, the impact of regenerative innovation on environmental management performance is not mediated by environmental operational performance.