The Role of Social Capital on Innovation with Environmental Benefits: The European Case

Abstract

AbstractThe United Nations [UN] 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasizes the relevance of innovation on employment and growth (Goal 9) and the need for climate action in order to ensure a more sustainable future for the next generations and the planet (Goal 13). Innovations with environmental benefits are crucial to achieve these UN 2030 goals.In this study, we mobilize the concept of social capital proposed by Bourdieu (Actes De La Recherche En Sciences Sociales 31:2–3, 1980), Coleman (Am J Sociol 94:95–120, 1988), Granovetter (Am J Sociol 91:481–510, 1985), as well as Castells (The rise of the network society. Willey-Blackwel, 2010) concept of network to reflect on the role of stakeholders on the promotion of innovations with environmental benefits. Using data from the European Community Innovation Survey from several European countries for 2014, we analyze the impact of stakeholders and cooperation on the probability of firms introducing innovations with environmental effects. Our empirical results suggest that cooperation with stakeholders has a positive impact on the introduction of innovations with environmental benefits regardless of the proxies used for stakeholders (e.g., cooperation with suppliers, competitors and clients; engagement with external knowledge) and the type of innovation (e.g., product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation and marketing innovation).KeywordsInnovationSocial capitalEnvironmentNetworkEuropean community innovation survey