Drivers of natural element green applications and impact on performance: evidence from the Chinese construction industry

Identifying the factors that influence the adoption of natural element green applications can significantly contribute to ensuring the environmental performance of construction companies. However, previous research on this topic has mainly focused on the dependence of construction companies on natural elements to enhance sustainable design. Meanwhile, how construction companies can drive their innovation performance through the natural element green applications to promote environmental performance remains an under-researched area. To address this gap, we developed a conceptual framework based on the natural resource-based view to identify the factors influencing construction companies’ adoption of natural element green applications and to explain how the adoption of natural element green applications influences environmental performance through innovation performance. We analyzed data from 422 Chinese construction contractor firms using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that four factors (e.g., sustainable material, green plants, decorative patterns, and folk craft) contribute to the development of natural element green applications. Sustainable materials provided the most important incentive for companies to adopt natural element green applications in sustainable interior design, followed by green plants, decorative patterns, and folk crafts. In addition, this study also shows that green application behavior can positively affect a company’s environmental performance and indirectly affect environmental performance through innovation performance. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.