Synergizing University–Industry Linkages for Green Innovation in Ethiopia: Mediating Role of Green Entrepreneurial Orientation and Moderating Role of NGO Financial Support

ABSTRACT Ethiopia is advancing its transition toward a green economy. However, the examination of institutional partnerships and their economic impacts remains theoretically underdeveloped. This paper attempts to integrate the Triple Helix, Stakeholder Theory, and Resource‐Based View, and strives to build and test a multilevel model of university–industry linkages (UIL) and green innovation (GI), mediated by Green Entrepreneurial Orientation (GEO), with context from NGO funding. Employing a convergent parallel mixed‐methods approach, we examined 517 university students' survey responses and conducted in‐depth interviews with 18 stakeholders in academia, industry, and NGO managers. Quantitative results show that GEO is a key mechanism for UIL to promote GI, providing evidence that collaborative structures foster innovative behavior. NGO funding shows a positive but statistically non‐significant conditioning effect, suggesting that funding alone, rather than capability and institutional alignment, is less effective. Qualitative data illustrate fragmentation, weak absorptive capacity, and poor structures as the factors that limit the innovation ecosystem's effectiveness. This study contributes to theory by combining institutional and capability perspectives to explain GI in resource‐constrained settings, broadening the Triple Helix scholarship beyond developed countries, and conceptualizing entrepreneurial orientation as a mediating variable. By highlighting the synthesis of collaboration, capabilities, and contextual support, the study refines the understanding of sustainability transitions in innovation systems and offers practical utility for the construction of layered policy frameworks.