A resource-based view of green innovation as a strategic firm resource: present status and future directions

Abstract

Green innovation could become a valuable firm resource for establishing competitiveadvantage while simultaneously contributing towards sustainable development; inother words, green innovation has the potential to address the dilemma betweenconsuming available resources and preserving them for the future. However, there isa dearth of studies systematically examining the present structure and future scopeof research on green innovation as a firm resource. Seeking to explain the sustainabledevelopment dilemma of green innovations through the theoretical perspective ofthe resource-based view of the firm, we address this gap with a comprehensivebibliometric analysis of 951 relevant articles. The key contributors to the extant liter-ature are recognised with bibliographic coupling, citation analysis and co-authorshipanalysis. A co-citation analysis identifies four major thematic areas of research: greensupply chain management, green product design, corporate environmental responsi-bilities and social sustainability. Further, a dynamic co-citation analysis tracks the pro-gression of these thematic areas. Content analysis of the thematic areas providesinsights into the status of the research domain. This study also contributes to theextant literature by identifying prestigious articles on green innovation as a firmresource, analysing the co-occurrence of keywords and suggesting future researchagendas.