Investigating the Role of Environmental Management Systems in Enhancing Competitive Advantage and Mitigating Organizational Environmental Risks

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) have attracted considerable scholarly attention, yet their simultaneous contribution to competitive advantage and to environmental risk mitigation—a dual-outcome perspective—remains largely unexamined. This study develops and empirically tests an integrated model linking EMS to Competitive Advantage (CA) and Environmental Risk Mitigation (ERM) through the mediating role of Green Operational Capabilities (GOC), while treating Environmental Dynamism (ED) as a boundary-condition moderator. Grounded in the Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV), Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), and Risk Management Theory, we formulate eleven hypotheses spanning direct effects, serial mediation, and moderation. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) on survey data from 312 managers across Vietnamese manufacturing and service firms, we find support for all eleven hypotheses. EMS significantly predicts GOC (β = 0.481), CA (β = 0.317), and ERM (β = 0.271); GOC in turn strengthens both CA (β = 0.451) and ERM (β = 0.364), while CA further advances ERM (β = 0.489). Serial mediation through GOC and CA is confirmed (β = 0.106), and environmental dynamism amplifies the EMS–GOC relationship (β = 0.157). The model accounts for 53.4% of the variance in ERM. Taken together, these findings bridge sustainability, competitive strategy, and organizational risk management, contributing to both NRBV theory and sustainability practice in emerging economies.