Harnessing difference : a capability-based framework for stakeholder engagement in environmental innovation

Watson, Rosina and Wilson, Hugh N. and Smart, Palie and Macdonald, Emma K. (2018) Harnessing difference : a capability-based framework for stakeholder engagement in environmental innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35 (2). pp. 254-279. ISSN 0737-6782 (https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12394)

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Abstract

Innovation for environmental sustainability requires firms to engage with external stakeholders to access expertise, solve complex problems, and gain social legitimacy. In this open innovation context, stakeholder engagement is construed as a dynamic capability that can harness differences between external stakeholders to augment their respective resource bases. An integrative systematic review of evidence from 88 scientific articles finds that engaging stakeholders in environmental innovation requires three distinct levels of capability: specific operational capabilities; first-order dynamic capabilities to manage the engagement (engagement management capabilities); and second-order dynamic capabilities to make use of contrasting ways of seeing the world to reframe problems, combine competencies in new ways, and co-create innovative solutions (value framing), and to learn from stakeholder engagement activities (systematized learning). These findings enhance understanding of how firms can effectively incorporate stakeholder perspectives for environmental innovation, and provide an organizing framework for further research into open innovation and co-creation more broadly. Wider contributions to the dynamic capabilities literature are to (i) offer a departure point for further research into the relationship between first-order and second-order dynamic capabilities, (ii) suggest that institutional theory can help explain the dynamic capability of value framing, (iii) build on evidence that inter-institutional learning is contingent on not only the similarity but also the differences between organizational value frames, and (iv) suggest that operating capabilities impact the effectiveness of dynamic capabilities, rather than only the other way around, as is usually assumed. A methodological contribution is made through the application of quality assessment criteria scores and intercoder reliability statistics to the selection of articles included in the systematic review.

ORCID iDs

Watson, Rosina, Wilson, Hugh N., Smart, Palie and Macdonald, Emma K. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9139-5030;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:86506
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 March 2018
    Published
    2 June 2017
    Published Online
    8 May 2017
    Accepted
    Notes:Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Product Development & Management Association Watson, R., Wilson, H.N., Smart, P. and Macdonald, E.K. (2018), Harnessing Difference: A Capability-Based Framework for Stakeholder Engagement in Environmental Innovation. J Prod Innov Manag, 35: 254-279. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12394
    Subjects:Social Sciences > Commerce > Marketing. Distribution of products
    Department:Strathclyde Business School > Marketing
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:17 Aug 2023 08:35
    Last modified:22 Nov 2024 13:39
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/86506
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