Improving environmental performance in manufacturing through sustainability with digitalization: A mediation and moderation study

In today’s rapidly evolving industrial landscape, manufacturing firms face mounting pressure to enhance environmental performance while maintaining competitiveness. The dual challenges of sustainability and digital transformation have become central to achieving long-term environmental and operational goals. This study examined how digital technologies and sustainability practices influenced the environmental performance of manufacturing firms. It also investigated the mediating role of sustainable supply chain collaboration and the moderating effect of environmental regulation pressure. Data were collected from 551 employees in Bangladeshi manufacturing firms using a stratified sampling technique. A quantitative research design was adopted, and the proposed relationships were tested using PLS-SEM. The results showed that both digital technologies and sustainability practices positively affected environmental performance. Sustainable supply chain collaboration mediated these effects, whereas environmental regulation pressure strengthened the relationships between the predictors and environmental performance. The findings provided actionable insights for managers and policymakers seeking to improve environmental outcomes by integrating digital technologies, sustainability initiatives, and regulatory mechanisms. This research offered a novel integrated framework that connected sustainability practices, digital transformation, supply chain collaboration, and regulatory pressure, thereby advancing the environmental sustainability literature within developing-economy manufacturing contexts.