Interorganizational cooperation and eco-innovation: a literature review

Abstract

Purpose

The presentation of the specificities inherent in the adoption of the cooperation practices for the eco-innovation development is sometimes fragmented and superficial in the literature. So, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how the literature has studied the association between interorganizational cooperation and the development of eco-innovation, for the developing a framework with the different faces of this connection.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the proposed objective, the authors conducted a literature review through the Web of Science database. The selected manuscripts were analyzed from the following categories: Why to cooperate?, What is cooperation?, How to cooperate?, Who to cooperate with?, How much is it worth to cooperate?, Where does cooperation take place?, When to cooperate?, and So what?.

Findings

Given the proposed objective, as a general aspect highlighted, the analyzed articles revealed that interorganizational cooperation has been presented as relevant for the development of eco-innovations. Thus, cooperation on their different faces allows companies to overcome resource constraints, even partially, while facilitating the development of different types of ecological innovations as costs and risks are reduced.

Originality/value

The theoretical contribution is expected to be the proposition of a framework capable of systematizing several specificities, including the antecedents and motivations, definitions and cooperation types, cooperation partners, important conditions that highlight how much cooperation is worth, where and when cooperation occurs and, finally, the main insights of this association, to guide future studies.

Citation

Pereira, R.M., MacLennan, M.L.F. and Tiago, E.F. (2020), "Interorganizational cooperation and eco-innovation: a literature review", International Journal of Innovation Science, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 477-493. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJIS-01-2020-0008