Influence of organisational innovation and innovation in general on eco-innovation in European companies
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-06-2020-0203 |
| Published date | 03 August 2021 |
| Date | 03 August 2021 |
| Pages | 840-867 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,HR & organizational behaviour,Organizational structure/dynamics,Accounting & finance,Accounting/accountancy,Behavioural accounting |
| Author | Laura Rodríguez-Rebés,Julio Navío-Marco,Raquel Ibar-Alonso |
Influence of organisational
innovation and innovation in
general on eco-innovation in
European companies
Laura Rodr
ıguez-Reb
es and Julio Nav
ıo-Marco
UNED, Madrid, Spain, and
Raquel Ibar-Alonso
Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –This research focuses on establishing relationships between eco-innovation and organisational
innovation and innovation in general to characterise organisational eco-innovation in European Union
companies. We also aim to investigate the forms of innovations that eco-innovative companies use as well as
the factors or determinants of eco-innovation in the corporate environment that impel the use of organisational
innovation.
Design/methodology/approach –We use the estimation of different binary logistic regression models with
maximum likelihood applied to a sample obtained from the Eurostat’s Community Innovation Survey 2014
database as a starting point.
Findings –The results suggest that the type of organisational innovation most closely related to eco-
innovation is found in work responsibility and decision-making methods. Some less frequently studied
significant factors are highlighted, such as training or aspects related to intellectual capital and knowledge
management, since significant indications of the importance and acquisition of existing know-how have
appeared, in contrast to internal knowledge generation.
Originality/value –The study seeks to observe what specific quantitative drivers (external or internal) are
used for organisational eco-innovation, as a specific subtype of eco-innovation. This can improve our
understanding of the ways in which organisational innovation can be used by corporations to provide
environmental benefits. The academicliterature provides information on the drivers and determinants for both
organisational innovation and eco-innovation separately, but we believe this article offers a new approach by
looking at the specific eco-innovation drivers achieved through organisational innovation.
Keywords Eco-innovation, Organisational innovation, Green-innovation, Environmental innovation, Drivers,
Leadership, Decision making, Management innovation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Eco-innovation is still a fairly new research area. However, recent literature reviews on the
subject (D
ıaz-Garc
ıaet al., 2015;Hojnik and Ruzzier, 2016;Salim et al., 2019;Pham et al., 2019)
show that policymakers, academics, and practitioners are increasingly embracing eco-
innovation.
Eco-innovation can be defined as the production, assimilation, or exploitation of a product,
production process, service, or management, which, throughout its lifecycle, reduces
environmental risks, pollution, and other negative impacts of resource use compared with
relevant alternatives (Kemp and Pearson, 2008). Within this concept, three categories could be
highlighted: eco-product, eco-process, and eco-Organisational (Triguero et al., 2013).
Organisational innovation refers to new organisational methods in the enterprise’s
business practices, workplace organisation or external relations and it is different from
innovation in processes, product or marketing.
In this context, and taking as reference both constructs mentioned above, organisational
eco-innovations are vehicles of corporate environmental self-regulation that facilitate the
JIC
22,5
840
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1469-1930.htm
Received 19 June 2020
Revised 10 October 2020
20 March 2021
21 May 2021
11 June 2021
Accepted 15 June 2021
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 22 No. 5, 2021
pp. 840-867
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-06-2020-0203
introduction of significantly different organisational structures, corporate environmental
strategies, and new management methods (OECD, 2009;Garc
ıa-Quevedo et al., 2020). Several
innovation practices related to organisational innovation (i.e. teamwork, employee
participation, decentralisation in decision making) and training for innovation are
considered key human capital management factors to achieve environmental objectives
(Garc
ıa-Marco et al., 2020). These could also include more formalised environmental
management systems (EMSs; Rennings et al., 2006).
It is important to highlight the implications for management promoted by organisational
eco-innovation as they have economic implications (such as saving energy and resources) due
to green innovation (Bitencourt et al., 2020). It also influences the organisation’s culture
(beliefs, values, symbols) as well as its inner workings and governance (Arundel and
Kemp, 2009).
We still know very little rega rding the benefits of organi sational practices for
environmental innovation (Delmas and Pekovic, 2013;Antonioli et al., 2013). In their
literature review on eco-innovation, D
ıaz-Garcia et al. (2015) pointed to some important
opportunities for future research, specifically focusing on the internal factors of firms (e.g.
capabilities and resources).
This research focuses on establishing relationships between eco-innovation and
organisational innovation to characterise organisational eco-innovation. We also aim to
study the factors related to this type of eco-innovation, and the forms of organisational
innovation that eco-innovative companies use. This study mainly aims to answer the
following questions:
Q1. Is organisational innovation involved in achieving environmental innovations in
European firms?
Q2. Which type of organisational innovation is more likely to provide the company with
environmental benefits? In this sense, we also investigate the drivers of
organisational eco-innovation.
The rest of the paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 sets the theoretical background of this
research, detailing the findings from the academic literature regarding both environmental
and organisational innovation. Section 3 presents an empirical analysis; explains the research
objectives, methodology, and composition of the sample. Section 4 presents the results which
are discussed in Section 5.Section 6 presents the conclusions and limitations of the study and
proposals for future research.
2. Theoretical background: organisational innovation on eco-innovation
The Oslo Manual includes a widely accepted and commonly used definition of organisational
innovation: “The implementation of new organisational methods. These can be changes in
business practices, in workplace organisations or in the firm’s external relations”(Oslo
Manual, 2005, p. 17). Therefore, we distinguish organisational innovation from product,
process, or marketing innovation. Org anisational innovations entail chan ges in the
organisational structure and processes of a company with the implementation of new
management methods or new practices to perform the company’s activity (Bujidos et al.,
2019). In their systematic review of the literature, Crossan and Apaydin (2010) defined the
concept of innovation as a process as well as a result that includes organisational aspects
such as the development of new production methods and the establishment of management
systems. Under this definition, organisational innovation becomes more than just a creative
process and forces us to consider the elements that produce a positive result and an
improvement as a consequence of their application. For our research, we will focus on
Organisational
eco-innovation
on European
companies
841
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