Eco-Innovation Practices and Sustainable Business Performance: Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability

Although the multi-disciplinary concept of ‘innovation’ has been debated in a wide range of contexts, recent calls for net-zero greenhouse gas solutions have meant ‘eco-innovation’—a relatively new topic, is an essential ingredient that can extend the frontiers of innovation research. There is a growing interest in understanding the interplay between eco-innovation practice and sustainable business performance. Until recently, much of the innovation research tended to focus on adopting cutting-edge technology, which normally occurs in the context of firms’ productivity, growth and performance in industrialized economies (Caliendo, 2020; Parrilli, 2020; Lim and Morris, 2022). However, as the climate crisis worsens, the importance of innovations that reduce the impact of business operations on the environment has come to the forefront of academic research. To initiate and derive sustainable business performance, firms need to consider enablers that connect economic goals to their environmental performance. This implies a series of changes affecting the entire organizational architecture, from core operational activities to reporting and the disclosures of accounting information and even changes in organisational governance. Looking at the innovation data, there is a lag in the recent peer-reviewed literature that systematically crystallizes these emerging themes. The large informal sector within emerging economies has little incentive to innovate, which compounds the challenge. Thus, this Special Issue seeks to extend and offer novel insights relating to cross-cutting themes on eco-innovation and sustainable business performance in emerging markets. The call elicits cutting-edge research in sustainability, including, but not limited to:

Eco-innovative practices and sustainability business performance;
Eco-innovative practices and sustainability reporting/reports and disclosures;
Eco-innovative practices, governance and sustainable growth/performance;
Climate change and eco-innovation;
AI and eco-innovation as they influence sustainable business performance;
Environmental performance and corporate governance;
Green technology and business performance;
Sustainable finance, energy efficiency and SME performance.