Mass Customization and Environmental Sustainability: A Large-Scale Empirical Study

Abstract

A growing number of firms nowadays need to combine mass customization (MC) with environmental sustainability management (EM). However, the research on the synergies or trade-offs between MC and EM is still in its infancy. Furthermore, the few findings available in the literature are partly conflicting: some studies suggest that MC and EM may be synergistic, while others raise concerns on the environmental sustainability of MC. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting the results of the first, large-scale, empirical test of some of the synergies suggested by prior research. Our results support the existence of two types of synergies between the MC capability of parts commonalization and the EM capability of product stewardship. One type of synergy is explained by the fact that parts commonalization capability reinforces the positive effect of product stewardship capability on environmental performance (interaction-based synergy). The other type is explained by the fact that both these organization capabilities require the same routines of cross-functional integration (shared routine-based synergy). Besides enriching the debate on the relationships between MC and EM, our results also contribute to the broader discussion on the compatibility between economic and environmental sustainability dimensions.