Scientific mapping on the convergence of innovation and sustainability (innovability): 1990–2018

Abstract

Purpose

Innovation and sustainability are key in today’s competitive world. It is no longer possible to conceive an organization that has not incorporated these two elements for it to become successful. The longitudinal bibliometric study seeks to examine the topography of innovation and sustainability to determine whether there is already a terminological integration that could be defined as innovation capability in a sustainable way. The objective of this work is to identify the growth trajectories of the literature, the countries considered as knowledge nodes, the most influential authors, the classification of journals, clusters and collaborative networks measured by co-citation, the analysis by keywords, countries and knowledge areas.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is developed under the bibliometric approach, and the period 1990–2018 was considered. The steps taken were as follows: 16 keywords of each term were identified and selected in 3 methodological layers by a panel of experts; an algorithm was designed and applied to identify these selected keywords in the titles, abstracts and keywords using terms in the Web of Science (WoS) of Clarivate Analytics to contrast them; and a review in specialized journals was carried out in the first quartile (Q1) of the WoS until 2018.

Findings

The most relevant finding of the study lies in the sustained growth of the convergence of the terms innovation and sustainability. In addition, the longitudinal review of the two concepts also shows that innovation is directly linked to sustainability, suggesting that the convergence of concepts and practices becomes part of the strategy of companies seeking to be competitive and sustainable.

Practical implications

At the management level, this research seeks to present a definition of innovability based on the convergence of the concepts of innovation and sustainability. This new concept can be applied as a management strategy for companies seeking to be competitive and sustainable. Theoretical and practical evidences that reinforce this construct are presented. At the academic level, the manuscript shows a longitudinal review on innovation and sustainability, a relevant scientific mapping and, finally, a new theoretical and practical concept is proposed that seeks to create strategies for competitiveness in a sustainable way. At the level of society, the study contributes to the sustainable development goals.

Originality/value

The results show that a field of studies on innovation is emerging that has a high potential to position itself as a new space for research. The concept of “innovability” is proposed.

Citation

De la Vega Hernández, I.M. and Barcellos de Paula, L. (2021), "Scientific mapping on the convergence of innovation and sustainability (innovability): 1990–2018", Kybernetes, Vol. 50 No. 10, pp. 2917-2942. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-05-2020-0328