Analytical editorial: Ensuring the future of our world: innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth

Abstract

Purpose

This article presents the Special Issue (SI, 35-2) of ARLA, edited (not exclusively) with the best articles from the specialized conference of the Academy of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Knowledge (ACIEK, 2021) conference and performs a bibliometric analysis on innovation, management, governance and sustainable growth.

Design/methodology/approach

Guest editors conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the scholarly literature by examining the characteristics of publications and how articles published in this SI contribute to their growth.

Findings

Innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth is an area that revolves around five points: (1) sustainable innovation in SMEs, (2) technological innovation, social capital and information patents to create value chains and financial development in the textile industry, (3) knowledge management and competitiveness for growth and productivity, (4) social entrepreneurship, business ecosystems and startups for sustainable development and (5) marketing-based business strategies for sustainable development.

Practical implications

From the analysis conducted, it is concluded that more research is needed on knowledge management and competitiveness in developing countries, such as Latin American and African countries, and to compare the results with more developed countries.

Objetivo

Este artículo presenta el Número Especial (SI, 35-2) de ARLA, editado (no exclusivamente) con los mejores artículos de la conferencia especializada de la conferencia Academy of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Knowledge (ACIEK, 2021) y realiza un análisis bibliométrico sobre innovación, gestión, gobernanza y crecimiento sostenible.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Los editores invitados realizan un análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo de la literatura académica examinando las características de las publicaciones y cómo los artículos publicados en este SI contribuyen a su crecimiento.

Resultados

La innovación, gestión y gobernanza para el crecimiento sostenible es un área que gira alrededor de cinco puntos: (1) innovación sostenible en las PYMES, (2) innovación tecnológica, capital social y patentes de información para crear cadenas de valor y desarrollo financiero en la industria textil, (3) gestión del conocimiento y competitividad para el crecimiento y la productividad, (4) emprendimiento social, ecosistemas empresariales y startups para el desarrollo sostenible, y (5) estrategias empresariales basadas en el marketing para el desarrollo sostenible.

Implicaciones de la investigación

Del análisis realizado se concluye que es necesario investigar más sobre la gestión del conocimiento y la competitividad en los países en desarrollo, como los latinoamericanos y africanos y comparar los resultados con los países más desarrollados.

Citation

Alonso Dos Santos, M., Huertas González-Serrano, M. and Staniewski, M.W. (2022), "Analytical editorial: Ensuring the future of our world: innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth", Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 117-130. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARLA-07-2022-368

Introduction

Humanity is faced with a growing and urgent need to manage scarce natural and vital resources for humanity, such as energy, agriculture, health, transport, housing and education, in a scenario of population growth and overexploitation of natural resources (Coccia, 2014). Sustainable development is considered a solution that guarantees the dynamic development of society (Stefanescu et al., 2011). Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Kardos, 2012). As a result of this urgency, in September 2015, the General Assembly of the UN (United Nations Organization) adopted a resolution determining the sustainable development plan till the year 2030 (UN, 2015).

Since 2015, interest in business sustainability has increased in the last five years (González-Serrano et al., 2020; Sarango-Lalangui et al., 2018; Terán-Yépez et al., 2020). Achieving sustainable development in society requires major challenges, such as a tenfold increase in the efficiency of materials, resources and energy (Ashford and Hall, 2011). Adequate reduction in exposure to toxic substances, a significant increase in stable employment opportunities with good wage conditions, and an adequate level and distribution of essential goods necessary for economic well-being, among others, are necessary.

Furthermore, various authors point out that companies' sustainable value can be structured in three dimensions (Arbolino et al., 2018; Cancino et al., 2018): (1) forms of environmental value, (2) forms of social value and (3) forms of economic value. Environmental value forms are characterized by using renewable resources, low emissions, low waste, biodiversity and the prevention of pollution (air, water and land). Social value forms are characterized by equality and diversity, well-being, community development, secure livelihoods, labor standards, health and safety. Finally, economic value forms are characterized by profits, financial returns on investment, long-term viability and business stability.

In the context of the 2030 Agenda, sustainable development should be understood as the creation of innovative economies centered on people, considering their skills, needs and expectations with respect to the dynamically changing world (Szopik-Depczyńska et al., 2018a, b). Therefore, innovations play an essential role in building sustainable economic prosperity for society worldwide, achieving economic growth and employment growth, which means that they are simultaneously a critical factor in the sustainable improvement of living standards in the world (Ioppolo et al., 2016; Szopik-Depczyńska et al., 2018a, b). However, it must be considered that an ambitious approach to entrepreneurship requires not only a lasting development of the organization itself but also an increase in the contribution by the organization to the sustainable development of the market and the whole society, requiring considerable innovations to support the economic environment (Schaltegger and Wagner, 2011).

Therefore, companies should not only be managed with the idea of sustainable development in mind but also be responsible for managing the development of cities and urban areas to create a sustainable urban future (Yigitcanlar and Dur, 2010). As a result, the concept of sustainable urban development emerged a few years ago to minimize the external effects of common human activities on the environment. However, although SUD has existed for many years, large-scale development has not been achieved worldwide (Yigitcanlar and Teriman, 2015).

Therefore, the management of companies and the development of governance policies must be along these lines if sustainable development of society is to be achieved from a broad approach and considering its three aspects. The digitalization of companies and technological innovations is gaining importance. Some companies are developing technological innovations in different fields to optimize the use of these resources in societies pursuing socio-economic growth. This interest, which is manifested in technological innovations for sustainable growth, has emerged from different areas of knowledge, such as entrepreneurship, energy, politics, economics, sociology and engineering (Cancino et al., 2018). The nexus between entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable development is currently a topic of great interest as society seeks solutions that lead to sustainable development (Kardos, 2012).

However, little is known about the successful adoption of a sustainable business model (Evans et al., 2017). There is still a lack of research exploring sustainable entrepreneurial behavior (Fischer et al., 2020). The last report of the Global Sustainable Development in 2019 highlights that there is still much work to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Agenda (Järvensivu et al., 2018). The need for research on the role of sustainable businesses in implementing sustainable development, with an increasing share of innovations, is increasingly being highlighted (Gerlach, 2003).

Therefore, the present study aims to (1) conduct a bibliometric analysis of the articles published on innovation, management, governance and sustainable growth and (2) show how the articles in the special section contribute to this field of study. Bibliometric analysis is a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the published academic literature that tracks the development of a particular field of research over an extended period (Pritchard, 1969). Researchers can use bibliometrics to investigate the characteristics of publications, such as authorship, sources, institution, journals, citations, country of the corresponding author and even different networks of collaboration, co-citation and co-word (Small, 2003).

The remainder of this paper is organized into four sections. The first section explains the methodology used to conduct the bibliographic search and its subsequent analysis. The second section presents the results of the bibliometric analysis, including the most cited authors, journals and countries, as well as the topics within this field of study and their evolution. The third section briefly presents articles in this special section. Finally, a series of conclusions and directions for future research are presented.

Methodology

Data collection

This study analyzed all published articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (SSCI, SCI-Expanded and ESCI) on innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth. Only publications from the Web of Science (WoS) were considered, as it is the most accepted database for the collection and analysis of scientific articles.

An advanced search was carried out in the subject search field, referring to the titles, abstracts, or keywords of the documents. The search was carried out on January 10, 2022, using the search equation TS = ((innovation) AND ((management) OR ((marketing) OR (governance)) AND (“sustainable growth”)). In total, 211 documents were retrieved. The search was conducted and compared by two researchers of the articles on the date indicated. The study was strictly limited to research articles, including only original papers and reviews. Therefore, the following documents were excluded: editorials, book reviews, conference abstracts, letters, editorials, news and bibliographic articles. In addition, an English language filter was added, and the year of the search was not limited.

Bibliometric analysis

The data were downloaded in plain text, and duplicate and unrecognized records were homogenized. One of the biggest problems encountered was that the same authors were identified using different letters. The total number of articles was reviewed to avoid duplications and errors and to complete the missing data in the records (institutions, countries and year of publication). Bibliometric analyses were then carried out in two stages.

First, the basic bibliometric indices were calculated (number and citations received for articles published per year, per author, per country and per journal). The statistical software HistCite (version 2010.12.6; HistCite Software LLC, New York, NY, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Hitscite shows quantitative indicators and presents quality indicators: the global citation score (TGCS) and local citation scores (TLCS). This study considers both quantitative and qualitative indicators, paying more attention to the latter. GCS refers to the total number of citations received by the selected articles in the entire WoS. LCS refers to the number of citations in WoS received only by the articles selected for the specific analysis performed.

Second, the extracted data were also analyzed with R studio v.3.4.1 software with bibliometrix R-package (http://www.bibliometrix.org) (Aria and Cucurullo, 2017). This software was used to analyze the basic information of the search performed, the cross-country collaboration index, the map of cross-country collaborations, factor analysis and analysis of the strategic diagrams. The analysis of the conceptual structure function allowed multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to draw a conceptual structure of the field and K-means clustering to identify groups of documents expressing common concepts. Finally, a strategic diagram based on keywords was created to identify the main research topics and emerging and consolidated research topics within this specific field of research.

Results

A WoS search was conducted, and 211 articles and reviews published between 1999 and 2022 by a total of 614 researchers in 142 different journals were found (Table 1).

Evolution of average publications by year

With regard to the evolution of articles published per year, an upward trend was observed. Although the number of publications from 1999 to 2012 fluctuated, there was a clear upward trend in the number of publications in this field of study from 2012 onwards. Therefore, it can be said that from 2012 onwards, there was a turning point in the increase in publications. In terms of the year in which the most significant number of publications has been published, 2021 stands out. Figure 1 shows these results.

Authors with the most citations received

Table 2 lists the authors who received the most citations. First, with the same number of citations received (GCS = 882) are Chesbrough H and Crowther AK. Second, with the same number of citations (GCS = 351), Van Looy B and Visnjic Kastalli I. Finally, in the third position, two researchers have the same number of citations (GCS = 184), namely Carstedt G and Senge PM.

Journals with the most citations received

Journals that received the highest number of citations were analyzed. The first is R&D Management, which received a total of 901 citations. Second, the Journal of Operations Management received 351 citations. Third, the Journal of Cleaner Production received 298 citations. Table 3 lists the journals with the highest numbers of citations.

Countries and collaboration map (minimum of two collaborations)

In terms of the countries with the highest number of articles published on the subject, China stands out with 46 published articles, followed by the USA with 34 published articles, and South Korea with 22 published articles (the more intense the blue color, the greater the number of articles published). As for the countries with the highest number of citations received, the USA stands out in first place with 1,602 citations, followed by the UK with 617 citations and the Netherlands with 515 citations.

For collaborations between countries, the thickness of the lines indicates the number of collaborations. The thicker the line, the greater the number of collaborations between countries. A minimum cutoff of two collaborations between countries was established. As can be seen on the map, the main collaborations are between the USA and China. In addition, collaborations between the UK and China, the UK and the Netherlands, and China and Australia stand out (see Figure 2).

Analysis of conceptual structured map

The conceptual structural map of publications on innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth between 1999 and 2022 analyzed by factorial analysis of multiple correspondences in field author keywords revealed five clusters: (1) red, (2) blue, (3) green, (4) purple and (5) orange. The sizes of the clusters were 43, 11, 10, 6 and 5 author keywords, respectively, with components centered on productivity, food security, capabilities, growth, development and start-up (Figure 3).

The first cluster, the red cluster (43 keywords), refers to sustainable innovation in SMEs to gain a competitive advantage through technology, eco-innovation and open circular economy innovation. All these companies are in the hospitality, food safety and agriculture sectors for the development of a sustainable competitive advantage. It is the most numerous and was developed based on the number of articles that compose it.

The second cluster, the blue cluster (11 keywords), refers to technological innovation, social capital and information patents to create value chains and financial development in the textile industry. Additionally, it highlights the importance of environmental policy development for green growth. It is the second most numerous cluster and was developed in terms of the number of articles in the cluster.

The third cluster, the green cluster (ten keywords), refers to knowledge management and competitiveness for growth and productivity. It focuses on sustainable development in underdeveloped countries (Thailand and India). It is the third most numerous cluster and has been developed in terms of the number of articles in it.

The fourth cluster, the purple cluster (six keywords), refers to social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial ecosystems and startups for sustainable development. This is a younger and less-developed cluster, and the number of articles published on this topic is still low.

Finally, an orange cluster (five keywords) refers to the development of business strategies based on marketing for sustainable development. It is also one of the most recent clusters and the one in which the least research has been carried out so far.

Strategic thematic analysis

Finally, a strategic diagram of the areas of innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth is presented (Figure 4). Three hundred and fifty author keywords were selected, and a minimum co-occurrence of three keywords was established. The size of the spheres represents the number of occurrences of the keywords.

The top left quadrant is a highly specialized topic or niche topic, while the top right quadrant is the driving topic. The topic in the upper-left quadrant is “green innovation,” so it is a very specialized and underdeveloped topic of study. The themes in the upper right quadrant are “industry” and “technology,” which are motor terms relevant and well developed for structuring this research field. Moreover, “sustainable development, growth, competitiveness, and India,” will become a driving and important topic in this field of study due to its centrality and density in the coming years.

The themes in the lower-left quadrant were underdeveloped and marginal. Depending on their density and centrality, the themes in this quadrant represent emerging or disappearing themes. In this case, the “food industry” seems to disappear; however, “capability,” “competitive advantage and strategy” seem to be emerging themes due to their centrality. Finally, the themes in the lower right quadrant are essential to this field of research but have not been developed. In this lower left quadrant, there are also cross-cutting and general core themes such as “circular economy,” “sustainable development, entrepreneurship, eco-innovation and ecosystem,” as well as “development, innovation, sustainable growth, sustainability, China and management.” The thematic analysis shows that, for best results, we can merge this research focus of the lower right quadrant themes with “technology,” which are essential themes in this field but are not well developed.

Articles in this special section

This special section presents the results of the call for papers that contribute to the development of the field of study of innovation, management and governance for sustainable development. In total, 20 papers were received, and eight of very diverse nature were selected. Three of them are related to marketing strategies (two in the field of tourism), one of them related to tourism management, one to the management of sports entities, one to the digitization of companies, one to financing to make companies more sustainable and the last one to leadership styles and resource management for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through education.

The first article in this special section focuses on the tourism industry for sustainable growth. Guaita Martínez et al. (2022) analyzed the competitiveness of tourism in the geographical area of Latin America, providing a country-level ranking. With this article, the authors were able to identify management areas in which efforts should be directed to increase competitiveness within this sector. The results show that Costa Rica, Chile, Panama, Mexico and Uruguay are the most competitive Latin American countries in terms of tourism activity. Moreover, among the factors that best explained the differences between countries were cultural and natural resources, implementation of information and communication technologies, international openness and transport infrastructure. Based on these findings, the authors highlighted that the aforementioned areas should be priority areas for tourism managers.

In addition, within the tourism industry, and from a marketing perspective, the second of the articles in this special section (Crespo-Almendros et al., 2022) analyzes the influence of the benefits perceived by the consumer derived from two different promotional incentives offered through social networks on the perceived quality of the heritage complex. To do so, these researchers conducted a quasi-experimental study using Facebook with two different promotional stimuli. The results of this study show that the benefits perceived by tourists depend on the type of sales promotion offered. The findings of the study indicated that while, on the one hand, the free VIP pass is mainly related to hedonic benefits that positively affect perceived quality, and on the other hand, the 2-for-1 offer is mainly related to hedonic benefits that positively affect perceived quality. On the other hand, the 2-for-1 offer is perceived as a utilitarian benefit and may exert a negative effect on perceived quality.

In addition to sustainable tourism, a country's image has been the subject of study in this special section. The third of the articles in this special section (Revilla-Camacho et al., 2022) analyses the variables that influence the perception of Brazil's brand, as well as knowledge of the relationships between them. To do so, they used a quantitative model through structural equation modeling. The authors found that both the identity and reputation of a country have a positive and significant effect on the country's brand. Moreover, cognitive image is positively related to identity and affective image. However, contrary to expectations, the affective image itself does not significantly influence identity. Therefore, the findings of this study can be of great use in creating a good country brand image to ensure the sustainability of tourism.

On the other hand, the fourth paper of this special section, Torres-Moraga and Vidal-Buitano (2022), investigates how autonomous and controlled motivations influence the formation of the patronage intention of innovative green products. Furthermore, the role of positive affect in these causal relationships and the moderating role of social norms are analyzed. A quantitative approach is used for this purpose. The results showed that autonomous motivations contribute positively to the formation of patronage intention towards innovative green products, whereas controlled motivations have a negative influence. It was also observed that positive effect plays a relative role in the formation of patronage intention, and that social norms play a moderating role in these causal relationships. This information can be useful for companies to identify environmentally motivated consumers and design effective strategies to improve their pattern intentions.

The fifth article in this special section analyzes how companies can contribute to the sustainable development of society by adapting their business models through technologies and the main barriers that companies encounter in doing so. In this case, Ancillo et al. (2022) analyzed the application of Industry 4.0 to the innovation and competitiveness of companies. These researchers analyzed the results of a systematic model to understand the strengths and weaknesses of SMEs in Latin America and Spain in the transformation to Industry 4.0. The results showed that there are barriers that need to be overcome to implement Industry 4.0: (1) training barriers, (2) economic barriers, (3) technological barriers and (4) contextual barriers. Therefore, these authors contribute to the existing literature on the management of enterprises for sustainable development from the perspective of inhibiting factors in the development of Industry 4.0.

Financing is sometimes a barrier to the development of strategies to improve companies' sustainability. That is why, within this special section, the sixth article analyzed some of the critical factors that determine the performance of financing renewable energy projects through crowdlending. Vásquez-Ordóñez et al. (2022) analyze the importance of crowdlending in raising finance to develop a cleaner energy system, which is a viable alternative because of its social qualities. To do so, they used the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methodology. The authors found that the critical conditions fall into three categories: loan characteristics, project descriptions and social networks. The results highlight the importance of founders' presence on social networks and the amount of information provided in the description. They also suggest that investors do not react negatively to projects with larger amounts and timelines and that giving rewards does not significantly impact campaign results.

The seventh article in this special section focuses on the specific field of sports management in non-profit organizations. Crespo Celda et al. (2022) presented the most relevant innovation strategies used by Latin American national tennis federations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They used a mixed-methods design, combining quantitative and qualitative measures with content analysis of the information provided. For data collection, they interviewed 19 executives from national and regional tennis federations in Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Their results showed that these sports organizations used various innovation strategies during this period, which had not been used previously. These strategies have been applied in diverse areas such as information, participation, communication and digitalization. This study presents examples of good practices that other sports organizations can consider to foster innovation.

Finally, the eighth and last paper in this section looks at how leadership and human resource management in education can contribute to achieving the SDGs. Gallego-Nicholls et al. (2022) focused on analyzing how to contribute to the achievement of SDG 3: good health and well-being, SDG 4: quality education and SDG 8: decent work and economic growth. Specifically, they focused on analyzing the influence of leadership styles and human resource management on teachers' well-being. The analysis assesses the extent to which teachers' well-being is influenced by human resource management and the leadership style of school management. The results suggest that leadership by example and high communication leadership directly and positively influence HRM. Human resource management, in turn, influences high school teachers' physical and psychological well-being. Therefore, with their study, these researchers proposed important findings that contribute to the achievement of SDGs 3, 4 and 8 through school management.

Conclusions and opportunities for research

Innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth is a multidisciplinary field of study that has recently been created and is in full growth and development. There has been significant growth since 2013, with 2021 being the year when the largest number of articles has been published. This growth may result from the importance of contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda's SDGs.

In terms of the themes in this field of study, five main themes were identified. The first and broadest of these are related to sustainable innovation in SMEs to gain competitive advantage through technology, eco-innovation and the open circular economy in sectors such as hospitality and food. It is along these lines that two articles presented in this special issue contribute. However, future studies should also focus on other sectors, such as sports, which present many SMEs and great opportunities to contribute to the sustainable development of society.

Technology is also gaining importance in this field of study. Technological innovation is of great importance for the sustainable development of industries. This is the driving theme in this field of study. Information patents and social capital are also vital to creating environmental policies for green growth and value chains. Future studies within this field should delve deeper into the importance of social capital and information patents for the sustainable development of society. It is also necessary to know in each specific industry and in cities in general, which environmental policies can have the greatest impact on sustainable development. Further empirical and longitudinal studies are required from this perspective.

Social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems also appear to be key to contributing to sustainable growth through innovation, management and governance. One of the articles in this special issue that analyzes the innovative actions carried out in the sports sector during COVID-19 is framed within this line. Different companies, institutions and governments must be encouraged to create entrepreneurial ecosystems and promote social entrepreneurship in different industrial sectors to achieve sustainable development in their industries. As a future line of research, it is necessary to analyze how to foster social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems in different industries. Likewise, developing management tools that help managers in different industries measure the degree of innovation of their employees as well as the impact of the actions they carry out from the perspective of sustainability is of vital importance. It should not be forgotten that the circular economy, eco-innovation and ecosystems have gained importance in recent years.

Developing business marketing strategies for sustainable business development, such as marketing strategies, can generate sustainable strategic advantages. Specifically, two articles in this special issue were framed along these lines. Therefore, the knowledge of which marketing strategies are more critical for the sustainable development of marketing strategies in different industries and with different customer segments should be further explored. Comparative studies of different marketing strategies that measure sustainable development using indicators are necessary.

Finally, knowledge and competitiveness management fosters growth and productivity in sustainable development in developing countries. More research is needed on knowledge management and competitiveness in developing countries, such as Latin American and African countries. It is of great importance to understand how to contribute to the sustainable development of these countries and to carry out comparative studies between developed and underdeveloped countries.

Figures

Figure 1

Evolution of the number of documents per year

Figure 2

Country collaboration map (>2 collaborations)

Figure 3

Share conceptual structural map in published documents on management and governance for sustainable growth

Figure 4

Strategic diagram innovation, management and governance for sustainable growth

Table 1

Main data information

Description	Results
Timespan	1999:2022
Sources (Journals, Books, etc)	142
Documents	211
Average years from publication	5.19
Average citations per document	16.32
Average citations per year per document	2,179
References	12,210
Document types
Article	207
Review	4
Authors
Authors	614
Author appearances	631
Authors of single-authored documents	39
Authors of multi-authored documents	575
Authors collaboration
Single-authored documents	40
Documents per author	0.344
Authors per document	2.91
Co-authors per documents	2.99
Collaboration index	3.36

Table 2

Authors who have received the highest number of citations

Author	Recs	LCS	GCS
Chesbrough H	1	1	882
Crowther AK	1	1	882
Van Looy B	1	0	351
Visnjic Kastalli I	1	0	351
Carstedt G	1	0	184
Senge PM	1	0	184
Lin JYF	1	0	123
Matsuyama K	1	0	113
Mouzas S	1	0	81

Note(s): Recs-Number of articles; LCS-Local Citations Score; GCS-Global Citations Score

Table 3

Journals that have received the highest number of citations

Journal	Recs	LCS	GCS
R&D management	3	1	901
Journal of operations management	1	0	351
Journal of cleaner production	10	2	298
Sustainability	36	0	193
MIT sloan management review	1	0	184
World bank research observer	1	0	123
Econometrica	1	0	113
Journal of business research	2	0	98
Energy policy	2	0	81
Technological forecasting and social change	7	1	54

Note(s): Recs-Number of articles; LCS-Local Citations Score; GCS-Global Citations Score