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This study explores how sustainability outcomes of an eco-innovation evolves within a network context. It focuses how and why the outcome of an eco-innovation differ depending on the network foci, i.e., whether it is, as most studies, the dyad (e.g., supplier-customer) or if it is beyond the dyad (in this study, a triadic setting). The study is based on theories on business networks where the unit of analysis is a dyad and a triad. The purpose of the study is to explore how to assess sustainability outcomes of eco-innovations from different network perspectives, juxtaposing dyadic and triadic perspectives.

The paper presents a model that provides an empirical contextualization illustrating actor perceptions regarding sustainability outcomes of the same sustainability initiative (an eco-innovation focused on energy efficiency in offices) is contingent upon the unit of analysis. The model presented in this paper functions as a strategic instrument for companies, offering insights into various conditions and helping them grasp how sustainability outcomes differ based on individual, dyadic, and triadic viewpoints. It offers a framework to understand why effects may diminish with increased interconnectedness and why technology alone may fall short. The results suggest that the outcome might get negatively affected when the number of involved actors grows (in this study; expands to a triad). The results offer implications for future studies of eco-innovations, and it echoes the need to expand the study perspective in business networks beyond the dyad when addressing sustainability challenges.

In this emerging research paper, we introduce a project exploring the role of a commercial real estate property company called Mestro on enhancing the efforts of its clients to provide environmentally sustainable venues for their clients who also value environmentally sustainable business practices. Mestro provides real time energy usage and advanced reporting systems that enables commercial property owners to optimize tenant energy consumption. Through the lens of service dominant logic, we will perform a multiple case-based study to understand how Mestro, in collaboration with its commercial property clients and their tenants, creates an ecosystem where all parties co-create value for each other. In addition to the case studies, we will analyze actual energy consumption based on real data provided by the participating commercial property companies on tenant energy usage.

Purpose: This study aims to offer a mid-range theory conceptualization of factors central to understanding and facilitating business actor engagement (BAE). Reports on a study of real estate companies and their sustainable development goal (SDG) driven business initiatives. The aim is to identify the factors that need to be in place to facilitate positive engagement amongst actors in business-to-business (B2B) settings. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of real estate companies (landlords of business premises) and their business customers (tenants of offices and warehouses) – comprising interviews and workshops – offer insights related to the factors that need to be in place to facilitate BAE types and outcomes. Findings: The identified central factors of BAE – needed to understand and facilitate positive engagement to unfold – are the actors’ perception of: willingness (to act), resourcefulness (to contribute and solve issues) and influence (to affect decisions) regarding solutions related to the business initiative at hand. Failing to facilitate these factors may result in negative outcomes of BAE where “engagement” merely constitutes perceived obligations and responsibilities. Research limitations/implications: The study offers theoretical and managerial insights on how to manage the factors needed for BAE. It also sheds light on how actors can use SDG-driven business initiatives to achieve sustainability goals. Originality/value: It contributes to the concept of BAE, by emphasizing the dynamics of engagement, from the motivational and behavioral dimensions specific to B2B settings. It offers insights how to managerially cogovern rather than control BAE. It presents central factors needed to include and capacitate customers, facilitating successful implementations of SDG-driven business initiatives to reduce absent or negative outcomes. 

Triple bottom-line challenges are increasingly related to the long-term survival of companies. Both researchers and businesses understand that the transformation towards a sustainable future is dependent on green IS initiatives. However, companies base their decisions on business cases when investing in IS. Many of the required changes that green IS can offer—especially when it comes to new systems that require new business models—are not captured by business cases. This paper presents a model that widens the perspective on value creation. The presented Sustainable Stewardship Management Model (SSMM) allows companies that strive for a stewardship role to evaluate both existing and new forms of green IS by combining casual and effectual decision-making. The model is a result of a collaboration with several large Swedish commercial real estate companies, their tenants, and a non-governmental organization (NGO). The model will be tested in a follow-up project.

Building on recent engagement research, this study contributes to a deepened understanding of business actor engagement (BAE) dimensions that includes both behaviors and emotions. Following a systematic combining approach, this study contextualizes and clarifies BAE. Through an analysis of dyadic data (providing firm and customers), we offer in-depth knowledge of the antecedents and types of BAE. This study identifies engagement disposition combined with engagement connectedness as the antecedents of an engagement initiative’s overall BAE. Building on these dynamics, we propose a conceptual BAE framework with a set of testable propositions that links BAE with its proposed antecedents. Finally, we use the empirical and theoretical insights to derive a BAE taxonomy consisting of four types that offers guidance on how to manage customers with different engagement characteristics in practice.

Extant literature focuses primarily on deliberate, proactive market-shaping efforts to understand changes in markets. This paper explores how emergent, incremental activities might unintentionally prompt market innovation due to the interactions of capability development and its required institutional work. Using a critical case method, we study a firm that successfully challenged established market logic by systematically changing its capabilities. A longitudinal field study reveals that capability development demands induce changes to institutional foundations; then, as institutions change, further capabilities can be developed, all of which may instigate wider market innovation outcomes. This study conceptualizes this intricate, iterative process, as well as its evolutionary market innovation outcomes. The proposed three-level capability model can guide firms striving to offer new and innovative services. The authors also detail a three-stage research design methodology that can help research and practice gain in-depth understanding of both emergent unintentional market innovation and strategic deliberate market-shaping activities.

Research shows that CSR certification motives span from being symbolic to substantive. Prior studies have mainly focused on the differences between firms that hold and do not hold CSR certificates. This study explores if the extent of CSR certification is related to different business logic amongst firms who hold CSR certificates. The study utilizes full sample data from the Swedish commercial real estate industry to analyze the variance in motives and performance among firms with CSR certificates. The results indicate that firms that have a substantive CSR commitment have a business logic that entails a holistic and long-term perspective on both financial and CSR performance. However, substantive CSR commitment comes with greater staffing costs and lower financial returns as opposed to those of firms that obtain CSR certificates based on symbolic motives.