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Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society
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Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 December 2022) | Viewed by 20361

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Daniela Buzova

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: marketing; tourism; innovation; social media; sustainability
Dr. Silvia Sanz-Blas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Marketing, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: mobile technologies; marketing; tourism; social media; innovation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Maria Guijarro-García

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Department, ESIC Business & Marketing School, 46023 Valencia, Spain
Interests: innovation; education; ICT; marketing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable development has been acknowledged as the foundation of future societal prosperity (European Commission, 2020; United Nations, 2020; World Economic Forum, 2020). The quest for sustainability has been further fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which raised awareness about the fragility of the existing economic, health, and education structures. The pressing need to address the critical issues associated with the new global panorama emphasizes the key role of sustainability-driven innovation (Little, 2005). Integrating the sustainability criteria into the creation of new products, processes, and services is not only fundamental for the recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, but has also been revealed as the “mother lode” of corporate business success (Nidomilu et al., 2009).

While many associate the term “sustainability” with environmentally friendly practices, its meaning goes far beyond the ecological implications and includes social and economic welfare (Gobble, 2012). The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on those three facets of the sustainability concept, and innovation is needed not only to minimize the negative impacts, but also to create new value propositions for the businesses and improve individuals’ quality of life. In this regard, the goal of this Special Issue is to stimulate research on sustainability-driven innovation in a wide range of academic disciplines and thus bring together different perspectives to solving the challenges of the contemporary world.

This Special Issue welcomes original and relevant conceptual and empirical research that combines sustainability and innovation to address the critical issues faced by businesses, organizations, and society at large. 

Topics of interest to the Special Issue include, but are not limited to, innovation in:

  • Sustainable production and management;
  • Sustainable entrepreneurship;
  • Sustainable marketing;
  • Sustainable human resource management;
  • Sustainable economy and finance;
  • Sustainable mobility and tourism;
  • Sustainable education;
  • Sustainable use of technology.

Dr. Daniela Buzova
Dr. Silvia Sanz-Blas
Dr. Maria Guijarro-García
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • innovation
  • sustainable innovation
  • sustainability-driven innovation
  • disruptive innovation
  • sustainable business

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 754 KiB  
Article
Innovation Activities and Their Impact on Product Innovation Results: Evidence from a Sectorial Study
by Eduardo Antonio Chang-Muñoz, Andrés Felipe Guarín-García, Yuneidis Charris-Sevilla, José Fernando Gallego-Nicholls, Cristina Santos-Rojo and Arturo Ortigosa-Blanch
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6459; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086459 - 11 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3722
Abstract
In the current competitive context, innovation has become a necessity, to the point that it seems that no company can survive without developing innovation processes. One of the great concerns of small and medium-sized companies is about the investment of resources in innovation [...] Read more.
In the current competitive context, innovation has become a necessity, to the point that it seems that no company can survive without developing innovation processes. One of the great concerns of small and medium-sized companies is about the investment of resources in innovation activities and their success. Therefore, this article analyzes the influence of different innovation activities performed by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the Colombian Caribbean region on their product innovation outcomes and thereby provides a solid groundwork for the design of innovation strategies. To achieve this objective, a data collection instrument was first validated in 56 SMEs, followed by the application of a reflective measurement model with convergent validity analysis. The results of the model application revealed that investment in Research and Development (R&D) and innovation, knowledge transfer, technology adoption, and financial aspects explain to a greater extent the introduction of new products to the market. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society)
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20 pages, 567 KiB  
Article
An Analytical Framework for Innovation Determinants and Their Impact on Business Performance
by Mahrukh Aslam, Imran Shafi, Jamil Ahmad, Roberto Marcelo Alvarez, Yini Miró, Emmanuel Soriano Flores and Imran Ashraf
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010458 - 27 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1891
Abstract
Innovation plays a pivotal role in the progress and goodwill of an organization, and its ability to thrive. Consequently, the impact analysis of innovation on the performance of an organization holds great importance. This paper presents a two-stage analytical framework to examine the [...] Read more.
Innovation plays a pivotal role in the progress and goodwill of an organization, and its ability to thrive. Consequently, the impact analysis of innovation on the performance of an organization holds great importance. This paper presents a two-stage analytical framework to examine the impact of business innovation on a firm’s performance, especially firms from the manufacturing sector. The prime objective is to identify the factors that have an impact on firm-level innovation, and to examine the impact of firm-level innovation on business performance. The framework and its analysis are based on the latest World Bank enterprise survey, with a sample size of 696 manufacturing firms. The first stage of the proposed framework establishes the analytical results through Bivariate Probit, which indicates that research and development (R&D) has a significantly positive impact on the product, process, marketing, and organizational innovations. It thus highlights the important role of the allocation of lump-sum amounts for R&D activities. The statistical analysis shows that innovation does not depend on the size of the firms. Moreover, the older firms are found to be wiser at conducting R&D than newer firms that are reluctant to take risks. The second stage of the proposed framework separately analyzes the impacts of the product and organizational innovation, and the process and marketing innovation on the firm performance, and finds them to be statistically significant and insignificant, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society)
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15 pages, 1905 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Hotel Experience in a Cultural City through a UGC Analysis
by Elena Sánchez-Vargas, Ana María Campón-Cerro, Elvira Prado-Recio, Bárbara Sofía Pasaco-González and Ana Moreno-Lobato
Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15695; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315695 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1936
Abstract
A large amount of information is generated on social platforms linked to tourism activity. It is necessary to explore this information using analysis techniques based on Big Data since the result greatly values decision-making. This paper aims to evaluate the titles of the [...] Read more.
A large amount of information is generated on social platforms linked to tourism activity. It is necessary to explore this information using analysis techniques based on Big Data since the result greatly values decision-making. This paper aims to evaluate the titles of the reviews published on Tripadvisor about 3 and 4-star hotels of a World Heritage City (Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain) to outline the attributes most valued by tourists. Content analysis was performed using the user-generated content (UGC) in Tripadvisor, together with techniques that facilitated the processing of the data to discover the most important characteristics assessed by clients during their stays. The analysis shows a positive evaluation of the hotels in the city of Cáceres, highlighting the hotel stay, location, service, and value for money as the most outstanding elements. Based on the results obtained, a recommendation for hotel managers is to focus their communication strategies on location, quality, and price factors. It is worth noting the importance that the implementation of Big Data techniques of analysis has for the sector, allowing for better knowledge of clients and helping to maintain a competitive position in the market. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society)
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19 pages, 1548 KiB  
Article
Impact of Dynamic Capabilities on Customer Satisfaction through Digital Transformation in the Automotive Sector
by Pablo Martínez de Miguel, Carmen De-Pablos-Heredero, Jose Luis Montes and Antón García
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4772; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084772 - 15 Apr 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4503
Abstract
Technology has impacted businesses in different areas, and, consequently, many companies have found it necessary to make changes in their structures and business models to improve customer satisfaction. The objective was to quantify the effect of dynamic capabilities on customer satisfaction, through digital [...] Read more.
Technology has impacted businesses in different areas, and, consequently, many companies have found it necessary to make changes in their structures and business models to improve customer satisfaction. The objective was to quantify the effect of dynamic capabilities on customer satisfaction, through digital transformation within the automotive sector. A random sample of 42 questionnaires on 127 surveyed industries was collected during the period 2019–2020 in a pre-COVID-19 context. A structural equation model (SEM) in two stages was applied. In the first stage, two reflective models were built. In a second stage, a structural equation model was evaluated. The results obtained in this study showed that the capabilities of sensing, seizing and innovation were suitably grouped in a construct called “Dynamic Capabilities”. A positive influence of Dynamic Capabilities on customer satisfaction was found. Therefore, the companies in this industry should focus on developing dynamic capabilities to improve customer satisfaction. Once the opportunities have been identified, managers take advantage of their potential (seizing) to transform and exploit knowledge in the creation, innovation, process improvement, and definition of strategies to combine new knowledge with that already existing. The digital transformation has contributed to identify the real needs for customers, to contact them and solve their problems, as well as offering products and services by anticipating their needs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society)
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13 pages, 410 KiB  
Article
How Higher Education Promotes the Integration of Sustainable Development Goals—An Experience in the Postgraduate Curricula
by Belén López
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2271; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042271 - 17 Feb 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3086
Abstract
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created big challenges and opportunities in Higher Education (HE). In this situation, several universities worldwide have responded with digital methods and hybrid classes in a short period of time. The aim of this paper is to show how [...] Read more.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created big challenges and opportunities in Higher Education (HE). In this situation, several universities worldwide have responded with digital methods and hybrid classes in a short period of time. The aim of this paper is to show how the universities have adapted teaching methods to digital platforms in the academic year 2020–2021. This case study is based on the experience of 37 postgraduate communication students in the course Business and Communication from a Communication Programme. The objective of this course was to promote the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) in business following the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) of the United Nations. To do this, the students provided different solutions related to the SDGs and developed a communication strategy to inform and engage the stakeholders in the companies analyzed in a hybrid class. The results show that using this methodology and working in digital platforms, students have learned the importance of SDGs through implementing specific solutions linked to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. Based on this analysis, they also developed a communication strategy showing how companies can improve society with specific actions through the lens of the SDG perspective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society)
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15 pages, 267 KiB  
Article
Organizational Learning at Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Action–Research Model for Leadership Improvement
by Angel Losada-Vazquez
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1301; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031301 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3687
Abstract
Knowledge Economy companies need to be aligned with social improvement challenges not only in order to promote sustainable innovation but also because knowledge workers need to feel their work is meaningful in both organizational and social terms. This is the reason why organizational [...] Read more.
Knowledge Economy companies need to be aligned with social improvement challenges not only in order to promote sustainable innovation but also because knowledge workers need to feel their work is meaningful in both organizational and social terms. This is the reason why organizational purpose might play a strategic role and becomes a top management duty. Furthermore, organizational purpose, as part of the social enterprise identity, needs to be built as a result of a new kind of leadership performance, focused on learning processes and driven by individual and organizational communication capabilities. Such a challenge points out, on one hand, that a more socially concerned enterprise is needed and, on the other, that top management capabilities must be improved in order to play the new role they are compelled to in order to promote social economy and stakeholders capitalism. What is at stake applies to both theoretically sound foundations and transformational managerial practices such as those this paper intends to apply by presenting outcomes from a research project focused on the transformational role of leadership as drivers for organizational learning capabilities improvement in search of innovation and social impact. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability-Oriented Innovation for the Challenges of the Contemporary Society)
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