From Green Intellectual Capital to Social Performance: The Mediating Role of Green Work Engagement in Manufacturing Firms

ABSTRACT Although prior research has established green intellectual capital (GIC) as a driver of aggregated sustainability performance, limited attention has been given to its specific influence on social performance and the behavioural mechanisms through which green knowledge resources are translated into social outcomes. Addressing this gap, this study examines the differentiated effects of green human capital (GHC), green structural capital (GSC) and green relational capital (GRC) on social performance and investigates the mediating role of green work engagement (GWE) in Vietnam's manufacturing sector. Drawing on the Resource‐Based View and its micro‐foundational extension, survey data were collected from 308 employees in garment and textile firms and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. The results indicate that GHC ( β = 0.219, p < 0.001) and GRC ( β = 0.204, p < 0.001) positively influence social performance, whereas GSC shows no significant effect. GHC ( β = 0.291, p < 0.001) and GRC ( β = 0.323, p < 0.001) also significantly enhance GWE, which in turn positively predicts social performance ( β = 0.224, p < 0.001). Mediation analysis confirms that GWE functions as a behavioural conversion mechanism linking GHC and GRC to social performance, while no indirect effect is observed for GSC. By specifying employee engagement as a micro‐level mobilisation process, this study advances a more dynamic, process‐oriented understanding of how green intangible resources are enacted to generate social value in emerging‐market manufacturing contexts.