Governance of sustainable innovation: Moving beyond the hierarchy-market-network trichotomy? A systematic literature review using the ‘who-how-what’ framework

Abstract

Fostering innovation to achieve the goals of sustainable development agenda has been the aim of a growing number of governance strategies implemented by both public and private sector actors. Traditionally, the question of who is best fit to govern has been addressed through the hierarchy-market-network trichotomy, however, such an approach might be simplifying the ways actors interact in the process of governing sustainable innovation. This article aims to move beyond this debate by systematically reviewing the scientific literature on governance strategies fostering sustainable innovation and focusing on three key dimensions: the primary actor (the ‘who’), their approach to governance (the ‘how’) and conceptualisations of sustainable innovation (the ‘what’). Based on this ‘who-how-what’ framework, our analysis shows the shift towards more collaborative governance strategies and highlights the need to focus on the ‘how’ rather than debating over the ‘who’. Finally, we propose promising fields for future research.