Dear Colleagues,

We all probably agree that most innovations are based on re-combinations of existing knowledge which flows or is manifested in social networks, and that we urgently need to make businesses more sustainable. The implications of this are twofold. First, this indicates that people are very vital for any innovation, as are groups of people connected through social links of any kind. In fact, all people globally are somehow connected. Second, the increasing perceptions of environmental damage caused by humans gradually shift the focus from commercially attractive innovations to sustainably attractive innovations. This shift can be realized among start-ups, established companies, efforts in product development departments, students or even pensioners. What mechanism, factors, and determinants, however, propel the success of sustainable innovations?

One factor having received gradually broader attention in the last two decades is user innovations or lead user innovations. Some people, based on seeking personal benefits and being ahead of time, fashion or taste, seem to create products and processes in a better and more successful manner than others and, most importantly, than classical product development departments. This is probably also true for sustainable innovations, but there is a lack of empirical evidence to confirm this. User or lead user innovators are described as owning certain personal characteristics, and they are positioned mostly between groups in social networks. The issue at hand would be to look at user innovators of sustainable products and processes and their characteristics and network positioning. Answering this question might make it possible to more effectively and efficiently utilize them for starting up new enterprises or intrapreneurship efforts.

Another human-centered question is how employees can be incentivized to engage in sustainable developments. Monetary incentives have been shown to be less effective to propel innovative efforts, but what other incentives, particularly social incentives, can be effective? In other words, how can sustainable intrapreneurship be fostered, and what can organizations do to establish not only a culture of intrapreneurship but one of sustainable intrapreneurship? Closely linked to academic and non-academic efforts of getting sustainable enterprises started are incubation and/or acceleration processes. Right at the start, it is well known that team processes, interaction patterns, the distribution of authorities, and the management of the start-up phase are the most important ingredients. Investors mostly tend to orient themselves at these ingredients rather than preliminary business models, products or processes. Therefore, creating a human-centered approach in incubating and/or accelerating start-up teams is key to creating successful enterprises. In established corporations, switching to such a culture and organization will certainly be challenging; in fact, it is organizational change that is often required to achieve an entrepreneurial orientation as well as a passion for sustainability-related business models.

The Special Issue on “The Human Side of Sustainable Innovations” will focus around these two shortly sketched themes; however, other themes around human impact in creating sustainable innovations are also welcome. The Special Issue is open to all research design approaches, mixed methods, and qualitative and quantitative techniques.

• User innovation of sustainable product and processes
• Intrapreneurship and sustainable innovations
• Incentivizing for sustainable innovations
• Incubating and accelerating approaches to sustainable innovations
• Changing attitudes organizational structures/cultures towards sustainability-oriented entre- and intrapreneurship

Prof. Dr. Jan Kratzer
Prof. Dr. Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß
Prof. Dr. Gunter Festel
Guest Editors

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• sustainable entrepreneurs
• user innovation
• social innovation
• incubation and acceleration