Sustainable Business Practices and Competitive Advantage of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Firms: The Moderating Role of Technological Innovation in Lagos State

This study examines whether technological innovation strengthens the effect of sustainable business practices on competitive advantage among fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. Drawing on the Natural Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the study conceptualises sustainable business practices through sustainable product design, operational sustainability, social sustainability and environmental sustainability, while technological innovation captures product/process innovation and digital adoption capacity. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among managers in four quoted FMCG firms. Of 475 questionnaires distributed, 445 usable responses were analysed using multiple linear regression and hierarchical moderated regression. The results show that sustainable business practices jointly exert a positive significant effect on competitive advantage, explaining 61.0% of its variance. Environmental sustainability and social sustainability recorded the strongest contributions. The moderation analysis further indicates that technological innovation adds explanatory power to the model and significantly strengthens the relationship between sustainable business practices and competitive advantage (β = 0.142, p < 0.001). The findings extend sustainability strategy research by demonstrating that the competitive value of sustainability depends partly on complementary technological capabilities. For managers, the results suggest that sustainability initiatives should be integrated with investments in automation, digital supply-chain systems, data analytics and process innovation. The study also provides evidence from an under-researched emerging-market FMCG context and highlights the importance of combining sustainability and technological capability in competitive strategy.