AbstractThis study builds on the natural resource‐based view to propose a mediation moderation framework by exploring the influence of green intellectual capital (GIC) on green business strategy through the mediating and moderating impact of green absorptive capacity (GAC) and corporate environmental ethics (CEE), respectively. The data were collected from 268 participants from large manufacturing industries in Pakistan to test the suggested model and analyzed using structural equation modeling (variance‐based). The findings show that GIC positively influences GAC and green business strategy in organizations. The results further indicate that the relationship between GIC and green business strategy is mediated and moderated by GAC and CEE. Moreover, a multi‐group analysis (MGA) shows no statistically significant differences across the industry groups. These results reveal the theoretical underpinning for environmental business strategy and provide a deep understanding of knowledge‐based resources and environmental regulations as important antecedents of green business strategy in manufacturing firms.