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Sustainable Innovation and the New Urban Green Innovation Agenda
Abstract
This study intends to analyze the conceptual, theoretical and empirical interconnections between the sustainable innovation and the new urban green innovation agenda. It departs from the assumption that sustainable innovation is at the core of the new urban green innovation agenda. The method employed is the meta-analytical, reflective and descriptive based on the conceptual, theoretical and empirical literature review. The study concludes that there are clear evidences that sustainable innovation is at the center of the new urban green innovation agenda.
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El presente artículo examina el impacto de la infraestructura verde urbana (IVU) en espacios educativos, que contribuye significativamente al desarrollo sostenible y la resiliencia climática, además, se realizó la respectiva revisión bibliográfica utilizando una metodología cualitativa analizando 15 documentos previamente seleccionados de una muestra de 377. Las revelaciones fueron muy importes ya que indican que la IVU en centros educativos mejora la calidad del proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje, reduce la deserción escolar y motiva tanto a educando como educadores.Es relevante que, mediante una adecuada planificación urbana, que sea incluyente respecto a infraestructura verde mitiga significativamente los problemas ambientales como inundaciones, y promueve la justicia ambiental con el objetivo de distribuir equitativamente los recursos y beneficios a la sociedad. Tomando a consideración la ciudad de Tokio donde se demuestra la efectividad de políticas integradas y direccionadas para la conservación ambiental y la eficiencia en el uso de recursos, especialmente hídricos. La colaboración entre autoridades locales y nacionales es esencial para el éxito de estos proyectos.
Coping with uncertainty has become essential for companies in the tourism sector. Consequently, intelligent organizations emerge as a dynamic way of adapting to economic, social and environmental changes. The objective of this work is to analyze the effect of sustainable innovation on intelligent organizations, using a group of Mexican companies in the tourism industry as the subject of study. To do this, 140 hotel and restaurant managers were interviewed during the first four-month period of 2021, using a self-administered survey. Methodologically, this research follows a quantitative approach, with a non-experimental, cross-sectional design and explanatory scope. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem) was used as the central technique. This work is relevant for tourism knowledge, contributing to the conceptual construct of sustainable innovation and intelligent organizations through the empirical evidence obtained, which allows explaining this business phenomenon. Our results show that innovation —from its social, environmental, and economic dimensions— is a strong explanatory and predictive sign of intelligent organizations, grounded on traits such as organizational culture, organizational structure, competitive intelligence, and knowledge management. Finally, authors propose to replicate this study in a larger number of companies and following a longitudinal approach.
Businesses must do more than safeguard their financial interests to survive in today’s market. Sustainability, or long-term viability, requires consideration of society, the environment, and the global community. However, community-based businesses cannot use some of the current components of the sustainable business framework because they were created for large corporations. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are used in this study. First, quantitative methods were used to develop a conceptual model for the organization’s current needs using the PPT, the TOE, and an Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT). A simple random sampling method was used to gather the data, with a sample size of 14 villages. Using a five-point Likert scale, the researcher gathered data from 2,584 households and collected 627 valid responses. After that, descriptive statistics were used to describe the data (frequency distributions, percentages, averages, medians, and standard deviations), and PLS-SEM was used to investigate the interactions between variables and launch the conceptual model using partial least squares (PLS) path modeling. First and foremost, qualitative through Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA). There are two ways to create a congested SID and an uncluttered SID: the Affinity Relationship Table (ART), the mapping of the Inter-Relationship Diagram (IRD), and the system influence diagram. According to the study, sustainable community water supply businesses are the primary driver. The conceptual framework presented in this paper is consistent with the results of the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods and the current constraints placed on community water supply businesses to thrive.
The Sustainable Development Goals were designed by the United Nations to help all organizations understand that any development must be balanced with the three pillars of sustainability: society, economy, and environment. Therefore, every organization must be more vigilant before introducing something that could have social consequences. This study aims to investigate all of the necessary components for proposing and establishing a community sustainability ecosystem model that supports local business sustainability with participation by highlighting essential variables that foster sustainable business prospects. The researcher distributed a questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale to 1,000 community water users in Thailand and received 627 valid responses. Using a simple random sampling technique with a sampling ratio of 14 villages, data was obtained. Subsequently, descriptive statistics are used to characterize the data (frequency distributions, percentages, averages, medians, and standard deviations). Furthermore, PLS-SEM was used to examine the relationships between factors and to launch the conceptual model using PLS path modeling. This study aimed to enhance the original Commitment-Trust theory relying on sustainability by examining the relationships between accepted variables pertaining to change agents, stakeholders, transparency, social networking, and good governance in order to provide new knowledge to the sustainability community and local sustainability businesses. In addition, this conceptual model can be applied to new business cases in which businesses need a framework that can be followed rapidly and reduces the danger of making mistakes on their own. In light of these considerations, this article proposes a novel community sustainability ecosystem model that may be adopted by the majority of businesses as a framework for managing the entire firm. Not only does it aid local businesses, but it can also adapt to any business change in order to become more profitable and sustainable.
Despite the increasing use of digital technology in industrial production, how industrial digitalization affects the environmental performance of production activities remains unclear. This research contributes to the literature on the relationship between industrial digitalization and enterprise environmental performance by employing a large sample of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Results indicate that the environmental performance of manufacturing enterprises has been significantly improved in the process of industrial digital transformation. Structural and technology effects are the transmission channels; additionally, structural effect is the main contributor to the positive environmental effects of information and communications technology (ICT) penetration. Industrial digitalization reduces the production scale of heavy-polluting enterprises and improves product innovation and green total factor productivity, but it has an insignificant effect on total factor productivity. Moreover, industrial digitalization improves enterprise environmental performance by introducing front-end cleaner production technologies, rather than by increasing pipe-end pollutant treatment facilities.
Electric vehicles (EVs) have the potential to lead the transition in road transportation from traditional petroleum mobility to electric mobility. Despite many environmental benefits, the market penetration rate of EVs is still low in most developing countries. Recently, Pakistan formulated its first EV policy for 2020–2025 to accelerate EV adoption. This study aims to explore the factors, including environmental concerns, perceived ease of use, effort expectancy, social influence, and perceived facilitating conditions, affecting individuals’ behavioral intentions to purchase EVs in Pakistan. The hypotheses were developed based on the literature, and an online questionnaire survey was conducted in Lahore, Pakistan, to collect the relevant data. The partial least square path modeling approach of structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis. The results confirmed that the environmental concerns, perceived ease of use, and effort expectancy positively affect the public’s intentions to use EVs in the future. However, social influence and facilitating conditions did not significantly contribute to EV adoption in the present study. The findings suggest that the EV manufacturers aiming to accelerate EV adoption should develop marketing strategies to disseminate information regarding the environmental benefits of EVs and enhance clarity about EVs’ performance and usage.
Chinese manufacturing has recently undertaken the responsibility of energy conservation and emission reduction to address climate change. This research analyzes green innovation on business sustainability in the energy-intensive industry in China from the manager perspective, researched data from 229 Chinese managers via structural equation modeling (SEM). The results demonstrated that green innovation had three dimensions: green product innovation, recycling, and green publicity. Business sustainability also had three dimensions: financial performance, environmental performance, and social performance. It also shows that green innovation had a significant effect on business sustainability in the energy-intensive industry. More specifically, we found that recycling has more impact on social performance when compared with green publicity. However, green publicity has a large effect on environmental performance; moreover, green product innovation has more impact on financial performance than green publicity. We also found that environmental performance has a positive effect on financial and social performance results. The alternative models were used to examine the second-order factors of green innovation and business sustainability to test the study’s robustness and supported our findings. Thus, this study contributes to the field by helping managers to make decisions when dealing with sustainable environmental management. It provides new empirical evidence to support the development of a low-carbon circular economy and realization of a carbon-neutral goal by 2060 in China.
In this seventh edition, we continue our tradition of differentiating our work from that of others by developing its unique characteristics:
• Strong evidence-based approach to the understanding and practice of managing innovation, drawing upon thousands of research projects, and “Research Notes” on the very latest research findings. Managing Innovation had more than 11,000 citations in Google Scholar;
• Practical, experience-tested processes, models, and tools, including “View,” first-person accounts from practicing managers on the challenges they face managing innovation;
• Extensive additional interactive resources, available from the Wiley Book Companion Site (BCS), including video, audio pod casts, innovation tools, interactive exercises, and tests to help apply the learning. Further video is available on our YouTube channel, innovation masters).
In this fully updated seventh edition, we draw upon the latest research and practice, and have extended our coverage of topical and relevant subjects, including digital innovation [6], business model innovation, open innovation [7], user innovation [8], crowdsourcing [9], service [10] and social innovation [11].
The study provides a new insight to extend traditional technology acceptance model (TAM) in to energy–augmented TAM (EA-TAM) model in order to analyze the micro and macro perspectives of green enterprise technology to ensure eco-friendly products. The critical review would enhance analytical abilities to understand the main determinants of the TAM model at both firms' and industry perspective. The study proposed micro and macro enterprise energy–augmented TAM models and found that microenterprise EA-TAM associated with green investment decision that increases the use of renewable energy demand to improve logistics performance, export capabilities, technology advancement, resource inputs, and competitiveness. These factors would largely support to green product innovation, which is fueled by green R&D expenditures. The green supply chain process would develop an attitude and behavioral intention toward the use of technology and green products, which ultimately would bond with green system use. The macro perspective of EA-TAM shows that green factors including green supplier selection, industrial green engineering, green procurement, green consumerism, green product recovery, and green innovation would increase green purchase decisions that convert into perceived ease of green products usage. The eco-product choice faced three compelling issues that could negatively affect the use of green products attitude and intentions, i.e., political constraints, carbon pricing, and consumer willingness-to-pay for public goods. The study concludes that the need for green policies is imperative to regulate firms and the industrial decision to go-for eco-friendly production. The use of renewable energy, carbon pricing and willingness-to-pay for public goods would be recommended for long-term sustainable development.
The purpose of this study is to describe a business model that can be applied to the SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic with Business Model Canvas approach so that SMEs can survive (Business Resilience). This research uses a qualitative method, with literature studies taken from several sources both printed and electronic media, books, and research results accessed from various electronic journals. The data analysis used is content meta-analysis through an interactive procedure consisting of four stages: data collection, data condensation, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The business model that can be applied to SMEs is the Business Model Canvas. Three important elements of business resilience are product excellence, people behavior, and process reliability, Business resilience is supported by digital transformation. Digital transformation exists when new digital skills emerge and digital tools are adopted. The right digitalization strategy is needed in achieving business goals and developing SME products or services to be more competitive. Competitive advantage is related to cultural diversity, plurality and social motivation. In the process of digital transformation, the correct digital infrastructure testing is required. By using the appropriate technology for system resilience, a business can carry out its digital transformation and create digital resilience.
The pressure on businesses to engage not only on profitability but also on social and environmental responsibility has increased in recent times. The study empirically tested the relationship between green marketing orientation (GMO) and environmental and social performance in the context of firms in the hospitality industry. Sustainable performance measurement focuses not only on financial but also on social and environmental performance. The study used the quantitative research design, and the cross-sectional survey method was used for data collection from 192 respondents. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis were used for data analysis. Cronbach’s alpha was used as a measure of reliability. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between GMO and environmental and social performance of hospitality firms. The findings of the study suggest that GMO is a firm-level strategic resource that can improve the sustainable performance of firms in the hospitality sector. Theoretically, the study linked GMO to environmental and social performance of firms. Empirically, the study adds to the literature on the effect of GMO on sustainable performance. Practically, the study suggested recommendations that can improve the adoption of GMO by firms. These include green design, green positioning, green supply chain, and green strategy.
Purpose
Conditioning factors of the globalized world have created new requirements and opportunities in developing management models for organizations that englobe sustainability aspects, which presume substantial investments in innovation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the relation between sustainable innovation practices and the performance of industrial companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a quantitative study and carried out by applying a research survey in Brazilian industrial companies.
Findings
The results showed that there are significantly positive associations between several variables related to sustainable innovation practices and company performance, being, therefore, possible to confirm the original proposed hypothesis.
Research limitations/implications
The main limiting factors were theoretical choices, comprehension of the phenomenon through the perception of the respondents, and the number of companies in the sample, as little representation was found in the researched population. In this manner, the results cannot be applied to the universe of considered research, being restricted solely to the group of companies in the sample.
Practical implications
From the main contributions, it is possible to highlight, at a theoretical level, the joint approach to issues of sustainable innovation and performance, since there are few studies covering the impact of adopting innovation practices on company performance. At a practical level, understanding of how the behavior of Brazilian industrial companies contributes to the wide distribution of practices that may contribute to better business performance and generate competitive advantages.
Social implications
At a social level, understanding of the benefits in adopting sustainable innovations practices favors the minimization of negative socio-environmental impacts.
Originality/value
By analyzing the themes of sustainable innovation and industrial performance, the present study may contribute to adopting business behavior that strategically and systemically integrates the objectives of sustainable innovation.
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role of owners/managers’ big five personality traits: conscientiousness, openness, extroversion, neuroticism and agreeableness on SMEs internationalization.
Design/methodology/approach-- The research design is a quantitative approach. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 303 owners and managers of Pakistani SMEs. The hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling usingAMOS.
Findings – The findings reveal that conscientiousness has an insignificant influence on the degree of internationalization while neuroticism has a significant negative influence on internationalization. Extroversion, openness and agreeableness have a significant positive influence on internationalization. The
findings disclose that owners and managers with extrovert, openness and agreeable personality are more likely to enter into international markets, while managers and owners with conscientiousness and neuroticism personality do not endorse entry into foreign markets.
Practical implications – The results suggest that not all the personality traits facilitate
internationalization process. Hence, firms that intend to enter international markers can benefit from hiring extrovert, open and agreeable personalities as managers to achieve their objectives. While managers with conscientiousness and neuroticism can be gainfully employed in other departments, they should be kept away
from the decision-making processes leading to internationalization of a firm’s operations. In addition, the insights gained from this study could facilitate CEOs and executives of large firms operating in developing
and developed markets to design effective strategies to promote and get the advantages of internationalization process.
Originality/value – This research contributes to personality literature, upper echelons theory and internationalization theory by testing the model based on the empirical evidence. This research is an intersection of the international entrepreneurship literature and psychological studies that have remained relatively unattended in prior studies. After extensive search, we have concluded that no previous study has as yet explored the role of big five personality traits in SMEs internationalization, particularly in this part of
the world. It is believed that lack of studies in this sphere is, to a considerable extent, impeding the pace of internationalization by SMEs in developing countries.
This paper presents an analysis of the literature concerning the impact of corporate sustainability on corporate financial performance. The relationship between corporate sustainable practices and financial performance has received growing attention in research, yet a consensus remains elusive. This paper identifies developing trends and the issues that hinder conclusive consensus on that relationship. We used content analysis to examine the literature and establish the current state of research. A total of 132 papers from top-tier journals are shortlisted. We find that 78% of publications report a positive relationship between corporate sustainability and financial performance. Variations in research methodology and measurement of variables lead to the divergent views on the relationship. Furthermore, literature is slowly replacing total sustainability with narrower corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is dominated by the social dimension of sustainability, while encompassing little to nothing of environmental and economic dimensions. Studies from developing countries remain scarce. More research is needed to facilitate convergence in the understanding of the relationship between corporate sustainable practices and financial performance.
A central issue in innovation management is the undesirable spillover of harmful routines and cognitive representations from core business to the exploratory innovation space, as dealt with in ambidexterity research. This paper examines a conventional manufacturing SME in a business-to-business market that developed renewable energy technologies in the scope of a new business unit, but has ultimately failed in the market. The aim is to examine how the interface between the old and new business was managed over time. Using an in-depth qualitative longitudinal case study, we investigated innovation processes over time and identified three major sources of failure. First, an organizational separation drift from a textbook-like to a looser form of separation allows for undesirable spillover of routines cannibalizing the new business over time. Second, a mismatch exists between the intended product-market strategy and the actual product-market exploration. A third source of failure is the simultaneous coevolution of several modes of separation, which increases management complexity.
Little research has considered the potential influence of distant, external pressures on the implementation of firms’ ‘green’ innovations, nor how internal firm resources might moderate this relationship. By combining institutional and resource-based theories and examining 649 firms in Australia, I find that export intensity is positively associated with green innovations. Further, as women in leadership roles increase in firms, the relationship strengthens between export intensity and green innovations. The results also suggest that greater levels of absorptive capacity among firms strengthen the relationship between export intensity and green innovations. Contributions of the findings are discussed along with limitations and future research opportunities.
A growing global population, combined with factors such as changing socio-demographics, will place increased pressure on the world's resources to provide not only more but also different types of food. Increased demand for animal-based protein in particular is expected to have a negative environmental impact, generating greenhouse gas emissions, requiring more water and more land. Addressing this "perfect storm" will necessitate more sustainable production of existing sources of protein as well as alternative sources for direct human consumption. This paper outlines some potential demand scenarios and provides an overview of selected existing and novel protein sources in terms of their potential to sustainably deliver protein for the future, considering drivers and challenges relating to nutritional, environmental, and technological and market/consumer domains. It concludes that different factors influence the potential of existing and novel sources. Existing protein sources are primarily hindered by their negative environmental impacts with some concerns around health. However, they offer social and economic benefits, and have a high level of consumer acceptance. Furthermore, recent research emphasizes the role of livestock as part of the solution to greenhouse gas emissions, and indicates that animal-based protein has an important role as part of a sustainable diet and as a contributor to food security. Novel proteins require the development of new value chains, and attention to issues such as production costs, food safety, scalability and consumer acceptance. Furthermore, positive environmental impacts cannot be assumed with novel protein sources and care must be taken to ensure that comparisons between novel and existing protein sources are valid. Greater alignment of political forces, and the involvement of wider stakeholders in a governance role, as well as development/commercialization role, is required to address both sources of protein and ensure food security.
This study explores consumers’ perceptions of sustainability labels on apparel products and examines sustainability labels as an effective means of determining consumers’ purchase intentions, using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the foundation. Data were collected via self-administered web-based surveys from 903 randomly selected shoppers throughout the United States (U.S.). Findings validated that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes, and purchase intention were associated with consumers’ use of sustainability labels. Within those four variables, sustainability label users exhibited significantly higher scores than non-label users, though the path relationships among those variables were not different between the two groups. This study is one of the first to use TAM to understand how consumers perceive and use sustainability labels for apparel products. Through this application, label reading behaviour is viewed similarly to how consumers use new informational sources for their decision making process. The findings provide practical implications for business marketers and managers of sustainability apparel products. As this study focused on sustainability labels and apparel product shopping among U.S. consumers, it may be limited to apply findings to other product categories and may be limited to consumers outside the U.S.
The interest in management innovation (MI) is growing and the conviction about its significant role in boosting an enterprise’s competitive advantage and performance has recently gained ground. The studies on MI and its relationships with enterprise performance, which are relatively scarce in literature, indicate the complexity of these relationships. This inspired us to propose the management innovation construct and its operationalisation, which allowed for the empirical verification of the relationships between management innovation and enterprise performance. Simultaneously, we adopted the hypothesis on the mediating role of pro-innovation organisational culture. The aim of this article, therefore, is to study the relationships between MI and enterprise performance as well as to determine what role is played by pro-innovation organisational culture in these relationships. In order to do that, we conducted a survey of 301 companies based in Poland. Our research results confirmed the existence of relationships between management innovation and enterprise performance in the survey sample, although they were not very strong. Additionally, the hypothesis about the mediating role of organisational culture was also partially supported. The results of our study enrich the knowledge about the role of MI in stimulating enterprise performance and the role of pro-innovation organisational culture. We also discuss the implications for further research and management practice.
The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and firm performance in the manufacturing sector in Asian emerging economies (AEE) based on empirical evidence. Through a systematic literature review, we identified 50 articles that surveyed 11,127 manufacturing companies in the AEE and were published between 1996 and 2015. Subsequently, a conceptual framework was developed and analyzed through a meta-analysis of 130 effects from 25,680 effect sizes. The findings revealed that the GSCM practices lead to better performance in four aspects: economic, environmental, operational, and social performance. Moreover, the results indicate that industry type, firm size, ISO certification, and export orientation moderate several of the GSCM practice-performance relationships. Moreover, the findings of this research help managers and policy makers to have more confidence in the adoption of GSCM practices to improve firm performance. Such results also help researchers to better channel their efforts in studying the GSCM practices in Asian emerging economies. In addition, as meta-analysis has not been widely used in the supply chain management literature, our study is an important step in maturing the academic field by adopting this technique for confirming GSCM practice-performance relationships in the manufacturing sector of Asian emerging economies.
While stakeholders have long been at the forefront of sustainable development debates, the emphases have tended to be on different stakeholder pressures, or managing stakeholder expectations about controversial issues. In this paper we bring a fresh direction to these debates and ask in what ways different stakeholders can contribute to sustainable innovation in firms. Based on 80 semi-structured interviews, we conduct a fine-grained qualitative analysis of stakeholder activities in sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) processes in thirteen different companies across Europe. Our analysis identifies eight roles that stakeholders play in SOI processes: stimulator, initiator, broker/mediator, concept refiner, legitimator, educator, context enabler and impact extender. More traditional roles such as legitimator and educator are less common in our cases. However, emerging roles like the stimulator, concept refiner, context enabler and impact extender are clearly identifiable and could be particularly valuable for SOI. We enhance a collaborative perspective of stakeholder theory finding that stakeholders can play highly collaborative and proactive roles, and argue that secondary stakeholders may actually be more relevant for SOI than primary stakeholders.
Dietary proteins represent a key issue for the future regarding worldwide food security.
Besides animal sources, plant proteins represent an opportunity to mainly contribute to
protein demand. Whether some plant protein sources could appear as deficient in some
essential amino acids, mixtures from different sources could represent opportunities to
further propose adapted supply regarding specific demand. Such opportunities includes
legumes as well as by-products of oil processing, i.e. canola and
sunflower cakes. The nutritional benefits of such new sources are still under
investigation considering benefits and limits like allergenicity. Finally, consumer
behavior and acceptability remains the final bottleneck for developing new protein
sources.
In September 2015, world leaders gathered in New York to endorse the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Ban Ki-moon asserts that the SDGs signal a ‘paradigm shift for people and the planet’ (UN 2014: para. 24). Significantly, under this new agenda there are expectations that businesses, government and civil society actors will be equally responsible for progressing a more sustainable path forward. Many assert that the private sector has particular strengths to bring to bear in delivering on the SDGs, including innovation, responsiveness, efficiency and provision of specific skills and resources. Interestingly, the business sector had a strong role in influencing development of the SDGs. In this paper we discuss the challenge being put forth to business actors by the SDGs, reflecting on both the potential for more sustainable and responsible practices and on the limits to change. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Circular business models based on remanufacturing and reuse promise significant cost savings as well as radical reductions in environmental impact. Variants of such business models have been suggested for decades, and there are notable success stories such as the Xerox product–service offering based on photocopiers that are remanufactured. Still, we are not seeing widespread adoption in industry. This paper examines causes for reluctance. Drawing on a hypothesis-testing framework of business model innovation, we show that circular business models imply significant challenges to proactive uncertainty reduction for the entrepreneur. Moreover, we show that many product–service system variants that facilitate return flow control in circular business models further aggravate the potential negative effects of failed uncertainty reduction because of increased capital commitments. Through a longitudinal action research study we also provide a counterexample to many of the challenges identified in previous studies, which could be overcome in the studied case.
Over the past 50 years, a substantial interest has been put to research on how innovation spreads within social networks over time (see Rogers, 1962, 2010). Our initial aim was to examine innovation diffusion in industrial networks. We operationalized the research through a case study of an advertising network by using systematic combining as the approach (Dubois & Gadde, 2002, 2014). From the initial focus of innovation diffusion, the rematching of data and theory led us to focus on the barriers of innovation diffusion. By doing so, we found out that multilevel strategizing appears to be an important phenomenon in understanding dynamics of innovation diffusion within industrial networks. Specifically, strategizing occurs in two levels: (1) the groups within the network compete for position, and (2) actors within a group compete for position by trying to differentiate themselves from other group actors. A strategic mismatch between the two levels leads the network to become decelerated or even static in diffusing new innovations (Abrahamsen, Henneberg, & Naudè, 2012). Uncovering these findings would not have been possible without the use of systematic combining and the constant matching between theoretical and empirical domains.
Eco-innovation is still a young area of research; however it has been an area of increasing concern for policy makers, academics and practitioners. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing body of literature on eco-innovations, and identify the most relevant publications in the field and the topics of interest. We have carried out a review of previous literature based on a Scopus search and selecting the discipline "Social Sciences and Humanities". The search offers us 384 articles. From their analysis, it can be observed that there is a clear increase in the relevance of this issue within academia and several thematic trends arise in ecoinnovation research, with drivers of eco-innovation being the most popular. Our main theoretical contribution is the development of a multilevel framework of eco-innovation drivers, with our literature review having a specific focus on systematizing the findings of the studies within this theme.
Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between sustainability practices and financial and market performance, and also, the role of non-financial performance outputs in this relation. Corporate sustainability is a growing area of importance for organizational development. Managing sustainability practices successfully is an imperative in achieving competitive advantage.
Design/methodology/approach
– Using empirical data based on a large-scale survey among organizations in five countries (i.e. Germany, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain), this paper utilized mediation analysis to estimate and test the mediated effects in a multiple mediator model. As such, the sizes of indirect effects of sustainability practices on financial and market performance through potential mediators were estimated.
Findings
– The results showed that innovation performance exerts a mediation effect in the relation between sustainability practices and financial and market performance. The main conclusion is that a greater engagement in sustainability practices leads to an increased innovation performance, which in turn leads to financial and market performance.
Originality/value
– This paper is one of the first attempts to empirically validate sustainability exploitation and sustainability exploration practices. Besides, the analysis of the direct and indirect effects of sustainability exploration and sustainability exploitation practices on financial and market performance has not been yet addressed to a great extent.
This is a reprint of a classic work of research on innovation first published in 1989. Resulting from the Minnesota Innovation Research Program (MIRP), the book includes a revised and expanded Preface and will complement the three other books growing out of the program, all published by Oxford: The Innovation Journey (1999), Organizational Change Processes: Theory and Methods for Research (2000), and Handbook of Organizational Change and Development (coming 2001).
While prior research has established that information technology (IT) investment has a significant impact on firm performance, relatively few studies have provided insights into the antecedents of IT investment decisions. By integrating the behavioral theory of the firm and agency theory, we propose a behavioral agency theory to explain performance shortfalls and corporate governance, which monitors and controls managers’ tendency of overinvestment or underinvestment in IT, as key drivers that jointly determine IT investment. As such, IT investment facilitates a firm’s problemistic search that generates innovation in response to performance gaps. We further examine the role of innovation outputs as a mediating mechanism linking IT investment to firm performance. Our econometric analysis of a large-scale panel dataset provides empirical evidence corroborating our theory. Overall, this study contributes a behavioral agency theory to deepen our understanding about performance drivers and outcomes of IT investment decisions.
Prior scholarships have documented that green human resource management practices have performance enabling effects on a firm's green performance. However, there is a dearth of studies that empirically model the extent to which green innovation culture moderates the relationship between green human resource practices and the firm's green performance. To address this gap, this paper established two-fold objectives. First, to examine the effects of green human resource practices and green innovation culture on firm green performance. Second, to model the extent to which green innovation culture moderates the relationship between green human resource management and manufacturing firms' green performance in China. This was done using data obtained from an extensive scale survey of 300 employees in Chinese manufacturing firms located in the Jiangsu Province. The study suggests that green human resource management practices which include recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management and appraisal, reward and payment, and employee involvement and leadership have a significant effect on green or environmental performance. The study also suggests that green innovation which includes green product innovation culture and green process innovation culture enhances firm green performance. Our paper further suggests that firms that integrate green human resource management practices and green innovation culture are associated with higher green performance than firms thaht practice green human resource management only.
Despite the increasing interest in green innovation literature, little is known on how and under what conditions firms' knowledge transfer activities affect green innovation. There is a lack of research that on how particular organizational capabilities are seen more useful and how it influences on green innovation performance. To address this research gap, we examine a mediation model in which we explore whether a firm's knowledge acquisition capability and investment in environmental management mediate the impact of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on green product innovation and green process innovation. On the basis of an analysis of a sample of 239 manufacturing firms, we find that buyer-driven knowledge activities have a greater positive impact on green product innovation than green process innovation. Investment in environmental management fully mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green process innovation, and knowledge acquisition capability partially mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green product innovation. The current study provides evidence that internal competencies and the role of buyers in knowledge transfer are critical for explaining green product innovation and green process innovation. Our results suggest that buyer involvement pushes firms to develop resource acquisition capability to enhance green product innovation. Our results also highlight the importance of investment in environmental management for overcoming the environmental challenges in the manufacturing firms.
To determine the most frequent factors that extended the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in the context of Mobile payment (M-payment) adoption, a quantitative meta-analysis approach of 25 studies was undertaken. The results indicated that perceived risk, perceived trust, perceived cost, and self-efficacy were the most frequent factors that achieved significant results in the surveyed studies. Accordingly, this study is an attempt to extend the UTAUT model with these factors; proposing a general extended UTAUT model for M-payment adoption. The proposed model is validated using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach. The data were collected from a total of 436 M-payment users in Oman. The results indicated that the best predictor of M-payment users’ intention to use the M-payment system is performance expectancy, followed by social influence, effort expectancy, perceived trust, perceived cost, and self-efficacy, respectively. Nonetheless, perceived risk was found to have an insignificant negative impact on the behavioral intention to use M-payment systems. The conclusions derived from this study enhance the understanding of the factors determining the adoption of M-payment systems in Oman.
Technological innovation has generated much interest among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers as a critical instrument for achieving sustainable development. Although the relationship between technological innovation and sustainable development has been extensively discussed in the academic and policy circles, little studies have empirically examined the simultaneous impact of technological innovation on the three pillars of sustainable development. To fill this gap, the present study examines the ability of technological innovation to simultaneously promote economic progress and advance social and environmental conditions in the case of 75 low-, middle-, and high-income countries by demonstrating how this impact differs across the stages of economic development. From both long-run estimates and causality analysis, our findings reveal that technological innovation contributes simultaneously to the three pillars of sustainable development only in the case of rich countries; however, it only affects the economic and environmental dimensions in the middle-income countries, and no impact is found in the case of low-income countries. Future research directions, policy and managerial implications are also discussed.
This paper evaluates the association between technology innovation, environmental sustainability and its impact on small business performance. Samples of 204 small businesses and hierarchical regression models were used in the analysis. The results of the survey show that technological innovation affects environmentally friendly owners who have a positive impact on the performance of the company. Successful companies that support environmental community projects and social well-being beyond their economic responsibilities can bring greater financial success. Innovation from management and employee participation in environmental protection practices can improve the company's performance and enhance its image to stakeholders. The findings of this paper enhance existing theories and contribute to the establishment of sustainable practices in developed and developing countries.
Over the past few years, organisations have faced pressure from stakeholders to adopt environmentally friendly business practices, where it is becoming critical to identify green practices that boost sustainability. Despite green human resource management receiving significant interest from scholars, studies related to green practices remain limited, and are still emerging in a developing countries context. This paper aims to assess the level of implementation of green human resource management practices in Palestinian healthcare organisations, and their impact on sustainable performance in this important service sector. A mixed research approach was adopted by conducting 14 semi-structured interviews with human resource managers, operational managers, and chief executive officers within a range of areas in the healthcare sector in the West Bank. A survey was used as a quantitative tool for data collection from 69 respondents who have been using green human resource management practices at different managerial levels. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used for data analyses. The findings revealed that green human resource management practices were implemented at a moderate level, where the overall mean of implementation was 2.42 on a scale of 5. Moreover, sustainable performance was achieved at a high level, 3.42 on a scale of 5. Identification and prioritisation of green practices were applied, where the most influential practices were ‘green hiring’, and ‘green training and involvement’; the least influential green practice was ‘green performance management and compensation’. In addition, the path coefficients test revealed that green human resource management practices had a positive influence on sustainable performance, where environmental sustainability had the highest path coefficient of β = 0.478; the lowest impact from social performance measured β = 0.372. This study provides scholars with a better understanding of green human resource management practices in a developing countries context, with empirical evidence of the role of green human resource management practices, in a bid to enhance employee behaviour towards sustainable performance. A framework was developed to provide policy makers with set guidelines on how to influence and implement green human resource management practices for maximised sustainable performance.
There is an increasing demand for alternative and sustainable protein sources, such as vegetables, insects and microorganisms, that can meet the nutritional and sensory pleasantness needs of consumers. This emergent interest for novel protein sources, allied with "green" and cost-effective processing technologies, such as high hydrostatic pressure, ohmic heating and pulsed electric fields, can be used as strategies to improve the consumption of proteins from sustainable sources without compromising food security. In addition to their nutritional value, these novel proteins present several technological-functional properties that can be used to create various protein systems in different scales (i.e., macro, micro and nano scale), which can be tailored for a specific application in innovative food products. However, in order for these novel protein sources to be broadly used in future food products, their fate in the human gastrointestinal tract (e.g., digestion and bioavailability) must be assessed, as well as their safety for consumers must be clearly demonstrated. In particular, these proteins may become novel allergens triggering adverse reactions and, therefore, a comprehensive allergenicity risk assessment is needed. This review presents an overview of the most promising alternative protein sources, their application in the production of innovative food systems, as well as their potential effects on human health. In addition, new insights on sustainable processing strategies are given.
There are increasing concerns on the environmental impact of port operations and development due to pressing global issues such as climate change and energy conservation. From the sustainability perspective, a port should manage and balance three bottom lines, namely economic prosperity, social wellbeing, and environmental quality. A major driver for sustainability is to attract and retain customers who value sustainability. As such, formulating a green port marketing plan fulfilling the economic, social, and environmental objectives will guide a port towards sustainable growth and development. The study aims to investigate the green marketing status of the world's major ports. With reference to green marketing theories, these ports' green marketing status is reflected by their strategies, structures, and functions. Cross case analysis is performed to identify patterns and trends across the various ports for benchmarking and thereby derive green marketing orientation. The cross case analysis also adds value by representing an international perspective from the major ports in key geographical regions. The results show that more than half of the 30 cases are actively engaged in green marketing. However, ports focus more on strategies, and less on structures and functions. It is recommended that ports should connect the three essential aspects in green marketing efforts.
Responding to prior research that has been equivocal on the role of general environmental motivations and addressing arguments on hedonic motivations in purchasing green products, the purpose of our study was to specify a hierarchical model of green purchasing. Environmental concern and environmental knowledge along with adventurous spirit as general environmental and hedonic motivations were examined. Situation- and issue-specific motivations, perceived environmental effectiveness, and novelty seeking were also included in the model. Data was collected from 284 adults enrolled in an online panel survey. The three TPB constructs accounted for 50.8% of the variance in purchase intention but only attitude and subjective norm had appreciable effects. Findings supported the claim that it is situation- and issue-specific motivations that are direct constructs of a specific behavior rather than general motivations. Environmental knowledge had an appreciable effect in explaining purchase intention while environmental concern did not. When novelty seeking was controlled, adventurous spirit accounted for no additional variance in purchase intention.
The development of electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles (AVs) has made great progress and been expected to play an important role in a future transport system. Some researchers have explored the potential impacts of autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs), while few have focused on the public attitude towards AEVs. This paper aims to understand the public acceptance of AEVs through the application of Technology Acceptance Model. Considering the potential environmental benefits of AEVs, this study concentrates on how environmental concern affects AEVs acceptance. Data is collected from an online survey in China and analyzed by a structural model. The results indicate that green perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and environmental concern have a positive relationship with people’s intentions to use AEVs. Environmental concern poses a powerful indirect effect on using intention through mediating effects. Implications for improving the public acceptance of AEVs and suggestions for further research are given correspondingly in this study.
The objective of this article is to analyze the barriers faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) when implementing initiatives for sustainable development. For this purpose, a search equation was designed, and the 50 highest cited articles fromthe search results in Scopus between years 2013 and 2017 were reviewed. The selected criteria for the article analysis were article name, article year, country, continent, journal, Scimago Journal Rank, Scimago Quartiles, Affiliated Universities,abstract, and keywords. Among the main results, 175 barriers to sustainability for SMEs were identified. The barriers that appeared most frequently were lack ofresources, the high initial capital cost of implementing sustainability measures, and lack of expertise. At the end of the article, a proposal is included which shows the175 identified barriers, classified by “sector,”“sustainability tool,” and“internal/external” which can aid in new qualitative and quantitative studies ofbarriers to sustainability in SMEs.
Background
Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires a relatively rapid transition towards a circular economy. Therefore, a multidisciplinary perspective is required to sketch why a transition from diets based primarily on animal proteins towards diets based primarily on plant proteins products is extremely urgent for both food security and sustainability.
Scope and Approach
This review starts out by identifying ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainable food consumption. Subsequently, it is argued how protein supply is underlying and linking the top-3 of anthropogenic impacts based on the planetary boundaries concept, i.e. 1) biodiversity loss, 2) nitrogen cycle acceleration, and 3) carbon cycle acceleration (resulting in climate change). These environmental impacts associated with current Western food consumption need to be reduced urgently. In order to address the inefficiencies inherent to current dietary patterns, therefore, a ranked list of more sustainable options is proposed, based on their order of magnitude. Addressing consumers, industry, and governmental stakeholders plus cultural aspects, challenges and options are sketched.
Key Findings and Conclusions
Clearly, a dietary transition from primarily animal towards plant protein products is required. Fortunately, new dietary guidelines are increasingly taking sustainability into account and the contours of a diet transition are slowly emerging.
Faced with internal and external pressure to adapt and implement environmental friendly business activities, it is becoming crucial for firms to identify practices that enhance their competitive advantage, economic, and environmental performance. Green innovation, green technologies, and the implementation of green supply chain management are examples of such practices. Green innovation and the adoption of the combination of green product innovation and green process innovation involve reduction in consumption of energy and pollution emission, recycling of wastes, sustainable utilization of resources, and green product designs.Although the extent research in this area is substantial, research on the importance of considering corporate environmental ethics, stakeholders view of green product, and demand for green products as drivers of green innovation must be conducted. Moreover, the role of large scale data, management commitment, and human resource practices play to overcome the technological challenges, achieve competitive advantage, and enhance the economic and environmental performance have yet to be addressed. This paper develops and tests a holistic model that depicts and examines the relationships among green innovation, its drivers, as well as factors that help overcome the technological challenges and influence the performance and competitive advantage of the firm. This paper is among the first works to deal with such a complex framework which considers the interrelationships among numerous constructs and their effects on competitive advantage as well as overall organizational performance. A questionnaire was designed to measure the influence of green innovation adoption/implementation and its drivers on performance and competitive advantage while taking into consideration the impact of management commitment and HR practices, as well as the use of large data on these relationships. Data collected from a sample of 215 respondents working in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Golf-Cooperation Countries (GCC) were used to test the proposed relationships. The proposed model proved to be fit. The hypotheses were supported, and implications were discussed.
This chapter provides a basic understanding of proteins, which are vital source of nutrition and valuable functional components of consumer food products. Animal-derived proteins, such as dairy, eggs, and meat, are the mainstay of Western diets and an integral part of global food production. However, these proteins require the conversion of plant matter by livestock, which is inefficient, requiring disproportionately more land dedicated for growing animal feed. As limited arable land is available for cultivation of food, feed, as well as fuel, proper land utilization and management is imperative. In addition, high levels of CO 2 , water availability, and climate change may affect growth and yields of several critical crops. Nonetheless, global temperature rise-induced changes in weather patterns may further reduce agricultural land and protein harvest from aquatic sources. The global population is on track to reach 9.7 billion in the next 30 years, with a projected 80% increase in meat consumption. A sustainable option to feed this increased populace comes from plant and alternative protein sources for which an overview is discussed. Awareness of healthy eating habits including consumption of less meat in favor of more plant matter is supporting this movement, as are other consumer trends. Food security may also play a role in this larger discussion on sustainable proteins.
Information systems (IS) can foster business transformation toward sustainability on a large scale by supporting green technologies, thereby creating hybrid physical–digital solutions that are able to fulfil organizational performance requirements and contribute to sustainable business practices. These supporting IS provide an alternative path to corporate sustainability rather than just contributing to the ‘greening’ of business practices by aiming to improve the organizational performance impact of environmental advantageous innovations, which in turn fosters their adoption. Employing a multiple case study comprising eight companies that have implemented such eco-innovations (specifically electric vehicles) in their business processes, our findings indicate that the organizational performance contribution of eco-innovations is improved when complemented by supporting IS. This effect is achieved by (1) enhancing the efficiency of the business processes in which the eco-innovations are deployed, thus increasing eco-efficiency, and (2) enabling new functionalities, processes and business models that help achieve organizational sustainability goals, thereby driving eco-effectiveness. With these two aspects, we add two functional affordances – technological flexibility and digital eco-innovation – to the existing knowledge base of Green IS and point to an elaborated role of IS in sustainability transformation.
This study endeavors to explore the driving forces of process eco-innovation and its effect on company performance by adopting an integrative approach. We focus on process eco-innovation, which pertains to technological and non-technological solutions that result in a reduction of material and energy costs for companies. In this regard, the study sheds light on the drivers and outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, using data collected from 223 Slovenian companies. The results reveal that certain determinants (i.e., competitive pressure, customer demand, managerial environmental concern, command-and-control instrument, and economic incentive instrument) are conducive to the deployment of process eco-innovation. Empirical evidence reveals competitive pressure as the most influential driving force of process eco-innovation, followed by managerial environmental concern and customer demand. Effectiveness in spurring process eco-innovation is also found to be a command-and-control instrument and an economic incentive instrument, while expected benefits do not spur process eco-innovation. Pertaining to the outcomes of process eco-innovation adoption, we can conclude that it pays to be eco; process eco-innovation is worthwhile in terms of company profitability, growth, and competitive benefits. These findings suggest several courses of action for both policy makers and companies. Hence, we conclude by providing implications for both.
We investigate the effect of corporate sustainability on organizational processes and performance. Using a matched sample of 180 U.S. companies, we find that corporations that voluntarily adopted sustainability policies by 1993—termed as high sustainability companies—exhibit by 2009 distinct organizational processes compared to a matched sample of companies that adopted almost none of these policies—termed as low sustainability companies. The boards of directors of high sustainability companies are more likely to be formally responsible for sustainability, and top executive compensation incentives are more likely to be a function of sustainability metrics. High sustainability companies are more likely to have established processes for stakeholder engagement, to be more long-term oriented, and to exhibit higher measurement and disclosure of nonfinancial information. Finally, high sustainability companies significantly outperform their counterparts over the long term, both in terms of stock market and accounting performance.
This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.
There is an expanding range of technologies used in a residential setting to enable sustainable living, including “smart” technology that uses learning and connectivity to modify household behaviors. Understanding what drives the adoption of sustainable household technology will allow product developers, marketers, and policy makers to use technology to reduce the environmental impact of homes. Based on the United Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, a model that explains predictors of intention to adopt sustainable household technology was developed and tested via an online survey of 592 US consumers. The results from structural equation modeling demonstrate that product attributes of sustainable household technology including performance, compatibleness, and hedonic expectancy as well as consumer characteristics, in specific, sustainable innovativeness significantly predict adoption intent. On the other hand, the model testing shows that effort expectancy as well as social pressure and environmentalism are not significant predictors of adoption intention Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.