Assessing the interplay between Open Innovation and Sustainability-Oriented Innovation: A systematic literature review and a research agenda

Abstract

Open Innovation and Sustainability-Oriented Innovation are undoubtedly two of the most debated topics of the last decades, gaining the interest of policymakers, practitioners, and scholars all over the world. Even if they have been usually described as two independent research fields, there are some emblematic examples presenting interplay and synergy between these topics, represented either by the hybrid perspectives of Open Sustainable Innovation, that is, the Open Innovation approach acting as an enabler of Sustainability-Oriented Innovation, and Sustainable Open Innovation, which instead analyzes how firms developing Sustainability-Oriented Innovation also adopt the Open Innovation approach. On the basis of these two perspectives and through a systematic literature review, this paper investigates the relationships between the Open Innovation and Sustainability-Oriented Innovation approaches and frames these relationships by developing an innovative framework, which highlights the main aspects characterizing the hybrid perspectives of Open Sustainable Innovation and Sustainable Open Innovation. The proposed framework highlights the Open Innovation practices and strategies enabling Sustainability-Oriented Innovation, as well as the contextual factors enabling both practices and strategies for Sustainability-Oriented Innovation. In addition, it shows how firms developing Sustainability-Oriented Innovation have a similar orientation toward the adoption of the Open Innovation approach both in terms of how they engage stakeholders, and the innovation capabilities they develop. Finally, a research agenda identifying the central issues and the key research gaps is offered for further development in future studies.