Eco-innovation practices

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine eco-innovation practices within project networks. Eco-innovation practices involve systematic series of actions that integrate resources to create value.

Design/methodology/approach

Using case research, the authors conducted an intensive study of innovation practices within project networks, using multiple sources of evidence to provide information to scholars and practitioners (Halinen and Tornroos, 2005). Analyzing practices facilitated an empirical investigation of how contextual elements shaped the social construction of eco-innovation.

Findings

An empirical analysis of eight project networks identifies three eco-innovation practices: cleaning up the landscape, connecting life and work, and boosting the efficiency of inbound and outbound processes. A methodological framework based on this practice approach is used to discuss the main elements of the practices in question, including actors, actions, resources, and value.

Practical implications

The practice-based approach (PBA) may help companies to make information and communication technology (ICT) more sustainable. By developing forms of eco-innovation that support project networks, companies can focus on holistic corporate performance, efficiency, and business value. Eco-innovation thus becomes a collective achievement that allows practitioners to appraise and critique the performance of their environmental practices, and that thereby allows them to constantly refine those practices.

Social implications

The development and use of Green ICT solutions enable actors’ sense-making and sense-giving within ongoing social practices wherein macro-level phenomena, such as sustainability and environmental issues, are created and recreated through the micro-level actions of project network actors.

Originality/value

This research extends beyond the more traditional issues of ecologically sound company operations and sustainable ICT use to address sustainable ways of doing business.

Citation

Mele, C. and Russo-Spena, T. (2015), "Eco-innovation practices", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 4-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-08-2013-0146