Accepted Manuscript

Sustainability-oriented Service Innovation: An emerging research field

Armando Calabrese, Carolina Castaldi, Giampiero Forte, Nathan Ghiron Levialdi

PII: S0959-6526(18)31403-3

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.073

Reference: JCLP 12930

To appear in: Journal of Cleaner Production

Received Date: 28 February 2017

Revised Date: 24 April 2018

Accepted Date: 08 May 2018

Please cite this article as: Armando Calabrese, Carolina Castaldi, Giampiero Forte, Nathan Ghiron
Levialdi, Sustainability-oriented Service Innovation: An emerging research field, Journal of Cleaner
Production (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.073

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Title: Sustainability-oriented Service Innovation: An emerging research field

Authors: Armando Calabrese a,*, Carolina Castaldi b, Giampiero Forte a, Nathan Ghiron

Levialdi a,

a Department of Enterprise Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico

1, 00133 Rome, Italy. Tel. +39 0672597359

b School of Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, P. O. Box 513,

5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

*Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: calabrese@dii.uniroma2.it (A. Calabrese),

c.castaldi@tue.nl (C. Castaldi), forte@dii.uniroma2.it (G. Forte), levialdi@dii.uniroma2.it

(N. Levialdi).

Words count: 12035

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Abstract

Current environmental, social and economic sustainability challenges are increasingly

becoming sources of motivation for both manufacturing and service companies when

attempting to innovate their businesses. In recent years, there has been growing interest from

academics, policy-makers and practitioners on service innovation as a new business logic for

companies to address societal challenges regarding sustainability. Nevertheless, research

specifically focusing on service innovation in relation to sustainability is scarce and

ultimately scattered across different research fields. Thereby, only limited clues are available

for companies willing to address sustainability challenges through service innovation. To

encourage further research in this direction, this paper systematically reviewed the available

literature by investigating peer-reviewed publications (from 2004 up to and including 2015)

across different fields, which jointly focus on services, innovation and sustainability. The

literature review confirmed both the growing amount of research on service innovation in

relation to sustainability, as well as the lack of an overarching field to clearly identify such a

phenomenon. The review also revealed that three main existing research streams (service

innovation, product-service system and sustainability-oriented innovation) contribute to the

investigation topic, though all have specific focuses when it comes to the sustainability and

innovation dimensions considered. Taking stock of the descriptive and thematic analysis of

the review and the identified research gaps, the paper concludes by discussing the need for a

clear recognition of the emerging field of sustainability-oriented service innovation, and by

outlining several future research pathways for its further enhancement.

Keywords – Services, Service Innovation, Sustainability, Sustainability-oriented Innovation

(SOI), Sustainable innovation, Product-service system (PSS)

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1. Introduction

Increasing local and global concerns over environmental, social and economic sustainability

issues (e.g. Solomon et al., 2007; Rockström et al., 2009) have generated calls for both

product and service companies to change their operations and offerings (e.g. Lubin & Esty,

2010; Gunasekaran & Spalanzani, 2012). Nowadays, sustainability is no longer considered as

a cost for business, but as a key driver for innovation and business development (e.g.

Nidumolu et al., 2009; Porter & Kramer, 2011).

In recent years, there has been a growing interest from academics, policy-makers and

practitioners on a wider and holistic perspective of service innovation as a new promising

“transcendent business logic” fostering sustainability (Enquist et al., 2015). Adopting a

service logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2008; Gustafsson et al., 2016) is considered crucial “for co-

creating value and sustainability in the network of a complex service system” (Enquist et al.,

2015, p. 182), in which several stakeholders are engaged in creating value, while achieving

sustainability (Saviano et al., 2017). In line with this perspective on service innovation (IfM

& IBM 2008; Ostrom et al., 2010; 2015), companies can develop new service-based solutions

to address the several sustainable development goals (SDGs) as defined in the Agenda 2030

(UN, 2015).

Yet, while the academic and business communities are calling for further investigation into

the ways in which service innovation and sustainability are linked (Djellal & Gallouj, 2015;

2016; Holmlund et al., 2016), research explicitly focused on these topics still remains scarce

(Djellal & Gallouj, 2016; Saviano et al., 2017; Rantala et al., 2018). Although studies

investigating the relationship between innovation and sustainability have proposed several

concepts and terms (Carillo-Hermosilla et al., 2010; Adams et al., 2012; Franceschini et al.,

2016), none of these focus on a broader and holistic perspective of service innovation for

sustainability.

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To fill this gap, this study had two main goals. First, it reviewed the rising number of studies

investigating the relationships between services, innovation and sustainability. Second, based

on the insights from the literature review, it aimed at discussing the boundaries of an

emerging field captured by the label “sustainability-oriented service innovation” (SOSI). This

study included a systematic literature review investigating peer-reviewed papers that jointly

focussed on the topics of services, innovation and sustainability in the period 2004-2015.

The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 explains the overall research strategy including

purposes and method. Section 3 presents a descriptive and thematic analysis of the results.

Section 4 offers a general discussion of the gaps and insights revealed by the results. Section

5 discusses the need of defining the SOSI field and offers a first definition. Section 6

provides several future research pathways, which can stem from the SOSI definition. Section

7 concludes.

2. Research strategy

2.1. Research purpose and approach

The starting point of this paper is recognition of the value of a common research field, from

which further research can then be encouraged (IBM Research, 2004; Chesbrough, 2005).

SOSI appears as an emerging research topic but its contours are still blurred. To better define

these contours, this study offers a systematic literature review and discusses the sampled

papers in an analytical way (Seuring et al., 2005; Jones & Gatrell, 2014).

To the best of our knowledge, a review of research focusing on services, innovation and

sustainability had yet to be conducted, although a number of reviews have explored two of

these topics. For example, Klewitz and Hansen (2014), and Adams et al. (2015) reviewed

literature focusing on innovation and sustainability, whilst Carlborg et al. (2014), Snyder et

al. (2016), and Witell et al. (2016) instead focused on services and innovation. Finally, Mont

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and Tukker (2006), as well as other subsequent authors (e.g. Beuren et al., 2013; Reim et al.,

2015), reviewed the more specific topic of the combined offer of products and services in

relation to sustainability; an approach linked to the idea of PSS literature.

In line with these prior reviews, this paper also aimed to offer a thematic analysis,

complementing a more descriptive, bibliographic analysis of the sampled studies. The

thematic analysis was performed at two main levels: the first level was concerned with the

definition of recognisable research streams, whilst the second level investigated the ways in

which key topics relevant to SOSI (in particular, sustainability dimensions, innovation

dimensions and policy) appeared across the various research streams. Overall, this analysis

provided insights on key research findings thus far, as well as highlighted clear research gaps

for the future.

2.2. Time frame for the search

A necessary aspect of the search strategy was the identification of a time frame. As

mentioned previously, relevant existing literature reviews were relatively new. Thus, a time

span of ten years appeared sufficiently broad for our search. Given that the authors

commenced their investigation in 2015, the publication time frame was 2004 to 2015. Note

that 2004 was particularly meaningful for service research, for it was during this year that the

idea of creating a new multidisciplinary academic field dedicated to services, explicitly

termed “service science”, first emerged (IBM Research, 2004; Chesbrough, 2005).

2.3. Search methods

The literature was systematically explored by searching peer-reviewed publications (from

2004 up to and including 2015) from different fields, placed at the intersection of the broad

topics of services, innovation and sustainability. A search strategy was developed (as shown

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in Figure 1), by following clear systems of rules and steps (Tranfield et al., 2003; Snyder et

al., 2016; Witell et al., 2016), thus leading to a comprehensive, reproducible identification,

evaluation and interpretation of the existing knowledge (Fink, 1998; Seuring et al., 2005).

INSERT FIGURE 1 here

The initial search strategy included broad search criteria to ensure that all relevant articles

would be identified. To guarantee that the papers dealt with scientific research, managerial

books and reports were excluded. Following this orientation, the decision was made to search

a global database of publications, imposing the combined presence of the terms “service(s)”,

“innovation(s)” and “sustainability” within the abstract, title and/or keywords of the

publications. The selection of general search terms such as these permitted the early

identification of as many relevant papers as possible. In our case, the search was able to

highlight papers dealing with the crucial “service/s development” string (Carlborg et al.,

2014), meaning they also had the potential to offer insights regarding “innovation” and

“sustainability”. At the same time, the imposition of the keyword “sustainability” sought to

identify those papers that, while jointly investigating topics of “services” and “innovation”,

also offered insights on the holistic concept of sustainability. This filter thus excluded articles

that potentially dealt with service innovation in specific environmental, social or economic

issues, and that failed to incorporate specific reference to holistically regarded sustainability.

The search strategy also included several sustainability-based studies across a number of

multidisciplinary areas. Yet, the inclusion of the “services” and “innovation” search terms

made sure that, within these areas, the investigation dealt with the convergence of the three

topics of interest.

To achieve maximum results, the search included the asterisk ('*') to alter the syntax for the

three keywords, thus: “service*”, “innovation*” and “sustainab*”. This adjustment ensured

that the search found all words beginning with the prefixes of interest, including nouns and

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adjectives, as well as the plural and singular variations. Finally, the multidisciplinary search

strategy aimed to cover the widest possible range of scientific fields and journals, and thus

obtain the broadest possible overview of the literature.

2.4. Initial search and narrowing of the sample

The initial search yielded 2,342 articles through Scopus; a database considered one of the

most complete when it comes to global research (Anttonen et al., 2013). The next step

narrowed the sample of papers by following several criteria; papers had to be peer-reviewed

publications, in English, and they had to offer full access to the text. Moreover, a first reading

of the abstract enabled narrowing this first sample by keeping papers that were jointly

focused on services, innovation and sustainability, and by removing those papers where a

substantial focus on the three topics could not be found. This step ultimately narrowed the

sample down to 208 articles, of which the entire text would be reviewed.

A full reading of the 208 papers revealed some recurring patterns. First, although many of the

articles used the term “sustainability” in the abstract, few actually defined, conceptualised, or

emphasised the term throughout the paper. In most cases, the use of the term “sustainability”

was conceived as referring to the firm itself; in particular, to its existence or survival over

time. Similarly, the use of the adjective “sustainable” occurred mostly within the label of

“sustainable competitive advantage”, referring to the firm’s ability to optimally position itself

with respect to its competitors. Second, although many of the articles dealt jointly with

innovation and sustainability, and included “services” in the abstract, there were few cases

where the rest of the paper followed through to provide insights into service innovation. In

many cases, the combination of the three terms occurred due to the presence of the

“ecosystem services” label in papers concerning natural and ecological systems, such as those

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dealing with the way a forest “serves” in retaining water in the ground. These papers were

removed from the sample, being considered not relevant to the investigation.

Reading of the full texts of the narrowed sample of 208 articles was carried out by two

researchers. The readers identified those articles that met the inclusion criteria of focusing

jointly on services, innovation and sustainability topics. They compared and discussed their

results, and in cases of disagreement consulted a third researcher to reach a common verdict.

From this stage, a final sample of 61 articles was selected for detailed analysis. The table in

Appendix A lists all papers, providing information on their authors, title, publication outlet,

year of publication and research stream to which they belong according to our categorisation

(explained later in the paper). Notice that the two most recent papers were published online in

2015, but their final publication year turned out to be 2016.

3. Results

3.1. Descriptive analysis

A quantitative bibliographical analysis in terms of journals and years of publication

(Tranfield et al., 2003; Seuring & Müller, 2008; Klewitz & Hansen, 2014) offered a first

descriptive analysis. The final sample was composed of 61 papers, of which 51 were articles

published in refereed journals and 10 conference proceedings. Applying the Scopus

categorisations, the sample could be classified into different journal subject areas, as depicted

in Figure 2. The area of “Business, Management and Accounting” accounted for the most

with 26% of the papers, followed by “Energy” and “Engineering” with 19% and 17%,

respectively.

Figure 2 also shows the evolution of the number of papers in the chosen period, revealing the

rising importance of the topic under investigation. Indeed, 89% of papers in the final sample

have been published in the last six years (2010-2015), and thus only 11% in the first six years

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(2004-2009). This growing trend tends to support the validity of our research purpose, as well

as the specific methodological choice of focusing the review of literature on the chosen years.

INSERT FIGURE 2 here

Studies in the topic of our investigation were widely spread amongst different journals. The

Journal of Cleaner Production (JCLP) was the outlet containing the largest number of

articles (Table 1). The other journals accounted for only one paper each.

INSERT Table 1 here

3.1.1. Keyword frequencies analysis

The relevance of each keyword was assessed by relying on their frequency in the final

sample. These keywords were indicated in the Scopus search results. This step entailed

removing the most general keywords (“innovation”, “research” and “industry”) to achieve a

meaningful graphical representation (Figure 3).

INSERT FIGURE 3 here

Figure 3 shows three evident “spikes” corresponding to the keywords, which can be

identified within the intersections of joint studies on “services”, “innovation” and

“sustainability”. In particular, there were connections between sustainability and innovation

(represented by the keyword phrase “sustainable innovation”), innovation and services (by

the keyword phrase “service innovation”), and between services and sustainability (by the

keyword phrase “product-service systems”). The keyword frequencies analysis allowed

assessing the relevance of specific research streams, i.e. service innovation (SI), product-

service system (PSS) and innovation for sustainability, linked to the umbrella term of

sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) (Jay & Gerard, 2015). There was a clear spike of

emphasis on PSS research in the manufacturing industries. This was also confirmed by the

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presence of related keyword phrases, including “product design”, “product development” and

“sustainable products”. The connection between products and services was further identified

by the presence of the keyword phrase “products and services” in the keyword frequency

analysis. Figure 3 also reveals the emphasis of research on “environmental” aspects, with

significantly less focus being given to more social issues. Indeed, there were only two cases

of the “economic and social effect” keyword phrase, while there were 11 instances of

“environmental impact” and “environmental management”, plus instances of many other

keywords also referring to environmental sustainability.

3.1.2. Methodologies and sectors analysis

Figure 4 summarizes the research methods chosen in the samped studies. Most of the articles

and conference proceedings (about 80%, n=49) employed empirical methods, with some

presentation of theoretical insights. The adoption of empirical research was particularly

strong in the PSS field. In the subset of 49 empirical studies, the most commonly used

methods were those of case studies and surveys, or questionnaires. Of the 20% of the final

sample that were strictly theoretical papers (n=12), approximately half belonged to the field

of PSS.

INSERT FIGURE 4 here

Our thematic analysis was aimed at identifying the extent to which the published research

covered the different service sectors. A wide range of service sectors was covered (Figure 4),

such as energy (e.g. Arnold & Barth, 2012; Hannon et al. 2015; Hyytinen & Toivonen, 2015),

transport (e.g. Tietze et al., 2011; Lai et al., 2015), health care (e.g. Wilson et al., 2012;

Srivastava & Shainesh, 2015), water and waste (Swilling, 2010; Cruz & Paulino, 2013;

Spiller et al., 2013), hospitality (Razumova et al., 2015), retail and consumer services (e.g.

Liao et al., 2014), logistics service providers (e.g. Zailani et al., 2011; Rossi et al., 2013), and

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information and communication technology (ICT) (Hjalmarsson & Lind, 2011; Ferrer et al.,

2012). As Figure 4 shows, three of the four most frequently addressed sectors were transport,

energy, and waste, which in fact often appeared in studies on public services and so-called

urban services, and they were often connected to pressing environmental issues such as air

pollution. The area of information, communication and digital technology was also often

considered. The ICT sector was seen as increasingly addressing sustainability issues by

developing innovative IT service offerings oriented towards sustainability or “sustainable IT

services” (SITS) (Harmon & Demirkan, 2011; Harmon, et al., 2012). Despite the mention of

many service sectors in the literature, most of the studies were sectoral case studies that did

not aim for a general understanding of the SOI activities of service companies, or the design,

development and delivery of new sustainable service offerings.

3.2. Thematic analysis

The thematic analysis of the final sample of papers (n=61) was aimed at discussing the

variation in the topic of our investigation (Thorpe et al., 2005; Klewitz & Hansen, 2014).

3.2.1. Main categories: research streams

At a broad first level, as discussed in the keyword frequencies analysis, three main existing

research streams could be recognized.

INSERT Table 2 here

The column “category” in Table 2 identifies those three research streams with the labels

product-service system (PSS), service innovation (SI) and sustainability-oriented innovation

(SOI). Almost 40% of the final sample of papers belonged to the PSS stream, with many

having been published in the JCLP (e.g. Tukker & Tischner, 2006; Liedtke et al., 2015;

Vezzoli et al., 2015), whilst the remaining papers were more or less equally divided between

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SI (31%) and SOI (29%) research streams. Table 2 also indicates five key papers for each

category.

The final sample of papers (n=61) was divided in these three research streams as follows.

Firstly, the content of each paper was scanned for the use of the relevant labels (PSS, SI and

SOI). Most of the papers could be categorised in this way and the categorisation made by two

different authors was then checked by a third one. In case of doubt, the publication outlet of

the paper also provided hints, as each stream could be associated to specific journals. The

references cited in the paper could also be exploited to classify papers. The SOI stream was

less crystallised as a field when compared to PSS and SI, meaning that the SOI category

naturally included a more diverse set of papers.

The second level of analysis identified key topics for each research stream. Accordingly, the

rest of Table 2 was designed as follows: the columns represented broad focus areas. These

covered, firstly, the two main sustainability dimensions, “environmental” and “social”, next

to the economic dimension (Seuring & Müller, 2008); secondly, innovation dimensions

(“System”, “Design”, “Technology”, “Organisation”, “Customers”) as crucial factors that can

foster and support SOSI; and, thirdly, their focus on “Policy”. The grey shades of the table

cells indicate the share of studies in each of the three streams that clearly included a given

focus, with darker cells indicating a stronger focus.

3.2.2. Sustainability dimensions

For each research stream, the dimensions of sustainability that the sampled studies focused

upon were analyzed, in particular whether they explicitly addressed environmental and social

sustainability, next to economic sustainability. Although all papers adopted a holistic

approach to sustainability issues, most of them still focused mainly on the environmental and

economic aspects of sustainability; only 18% of the papers focused on social sustainability

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issues. Most importantly for our purpose, one-third of the papers in the final sample placed

the same focus on environmental, social and economic sustainability issues. Within this same

third of papers, a wealth of different labels and concepts is used, mostly concerned with

specific environmental aspects.

As for the variation among the identified three categories mentioned above, at least two-

thirds of the papers in the SOI category were strongly focused on environmental

sustainability issues. This category included terms such as “eco-innovations” (Carrillo-

Hermosilla et al., 2010), “environmental uncertainty” and “environmental degradation” (York

& Venkataraman, 2010), “carbon footprint innovation” (Theodoulidis et al., 2011), “eco-

friendly innovation” (Wijnants et al., 2012), “energy-efficient and climate-friendly solutions”

(Arnold & Barth, 2012), “environmental gains” (Keskin et al., 2013), “green innovation”

(Wu & Sun, 2008; Weng et al., 2015), “environmental innovations” (Potts, 2010; Razumova

et al., 2015), and “eco-innovative orientation” (Segarra-Ona et al., 2016).

Similarly, in the PSS research stream, environmental issues were also predominant. Common

terms were “climate change” and “material efficiency approach” (Rynikiewicz, 2006),

“whole life-cycle environmental performance” (Evans et al., 2007), “environmental

innovations” and “environmental improvements” (Ceschin & Vezzoli, 2010), “waste

prevention” (Cook et al., 2012), “green public procurement” (Bratt et al., 2013),

“environmental impact” (Tang & Bhamra, 2012; Paloheimo et al., 2016), and “CleanServs”

(Wolfson et al., 2014).

Both SOI and PSS had a much weaker focus on social sustainability (Table 2). In the former,

common terms were “rural poor communities” (Arora & Ali Kazmi, 2012) and “social

practices” (van Vliet, 2012), while in the latter, terms such as “social livelihoods” (Xing et

al., 2013) and “sustainable energy access” (Pailman et al., 2015) were present.

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Regarding papers in the SI stream, social and environmental sustainability dimensions

appeared equally. In this category, almost 25% of papers focus on environmental aspects, and

almost 25% place emphasis on social issues. On the topic of environmental sustainability,

studies in SI use concepts like “green innovation” (Zailani et al., 2011), “eco-efficient

services” (Anttonen et al., 2013), “clean development mechanism” (Cruz & Paulino, 2013),

“eco-efficiency” (Rossi et al., 2013), “green services” or “ecologically sustainable services”

(Cocca & Ganz, 2015), and “reducing natural resource use” (Paloheimo et al., 2016). For

studies mainly referring to the social sustainability dimension, several included such terms as

“older people” and “health and social care” (Wilson et al., 2012), “food security and safety”

and “better dietary habits” (Galli et al., 2014), “inclusion” and “socially driven service

innovation” (Reynoso et al., 2015), and “service divide” (Srivastava & Shainesh, 2015).

3.2.3. Innovation dimensions

There is by now a wide consensus among academics regarding the multidimensional nature

of service innovation (e.g. Carlborg et al. 2014; Janssen et al., 2016). The picture emerging

from our analysis was that several studies embraced the idea that developing innovative

service solutions, which addressed sustainability challenges, require changes along several

dimensions (Jay & Gerard, 2015). Key innovation dimensions, labelled here as “system”,

“design”, “technology”, “organisation” and “customers”, resonated with innovation

dimensions commonly defined in the service innovation literature (see, for instance, den

Hertog, 2000).

The most frequent key innovation dimension turned out to be “system”, stressing the

importance of developing and orchestrating partnerships or networks to foster and support the

integration and collaboration among stakeholders when creating value through new

sustainable service solutions (Kindström et al., 2013; Enquist et al., 2015). A system focus

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could be found in more than 60% of the papers, most commonly in the PSS and SI categories,

as well as SOI papers, albeit to a lesser degree. In particular, PSS studies used terms like

“partnership building” (Evans et al., 2007; Partidário et al., 2007), “collaborative networks”

(e.g. Lelah et al., 2012), “cooperation” (Hernandez-Pardo et al., 2013), “service system”

(Vezzoli & Penin, 2006; Wolfson et al., 2014), “innovation system” (Hannon et al., 2015),

and “system innovation” (Tukker & Tischner, 2006; Vezzoli et al., 2015). The papers in SI

used terms such as “system design” (Wilson et al., 2012), “civic food networks” and “public

private partnerships” (Galli et al., 2014), and “service system” (Zhang et al., 2010; Srivastava

& Shainesh, 2015). The papers in the SOI stream use terms like “network design”

(Hjalmarsson & Lind, 2011) and “stakeholder theory” (Weng et al., 2015).

The second key innovation dimension in terms of importance was “design”, referring to the

conceptual component of new sustainability-oriented service solutions (Nidumolu et al.,

2009). The design factor was particularly strong in the PSS literature, with terms like

“experimental designs” (Vezzoli & Penin, 2006), “design strategy” and “environmental

product design” (Tang & Bhamra, 2012), “design process” (Hernandez-Pardo et al., 2013),

and “design for sustainability” (Ceschin, 2014; Vezzoli et al., 2015). SOI papers also focused

on this dimension, though to a lesser degree, through such terms as “network design”

(Hjalmarsson & Lind, 2011), “design for sustainability” and “eco-design” (Küçüksayraç et

al., 2015). Within SI research the focus on the design dimension of innovation was much

weaker, with one isolated example being the focus on “system design” (Wilson et al., 2012),

which was in fact also related to the more prominent system dimension.

The innovation dimension of “technology” appeared most predominantly across SI studies,

though it also received some degree of attention in PSS and SOI studies. In SI research,

technology was viewed as a crucial way for service companies to develop service innovation

and increase their service offerings (e.g. den Hertog, 2000). The papers in SI included several

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terms referring to the technological aspect of innovations, such as “e-waste recycling” and

“technology” (Zhang et al., 2010), “green IT”, “information technology” and “IT service”

(Harmon & Demirkan, 2011), “cloud services” and “computing industry” (Ferrer et al.,

2012), “sustainable IT”, and “technology roadmapping” (Harmon et al., 2012), “smartcard

payment” and “technology-based service innovation” (Liao et al., 2014), “technology”

(Reynoso et al., 2015) and “digital divide” (Srivastava & Shainesh, 2015). PSS papers also

considerd the technological dimensions of new solutions, with such terms as “information

and communication technology (ICT)” (Hernandez-Pardo et al., 2013), and “mobile

telephony infrastructure” (Pailman et al., 2015). The SOI stream was instead less focused on

technology, though certain terms were present, including “green technology” (Wu & Sun,

2008), “community-based Internet access”, “digital service innovation”, “seamless Wi-Fi

connectivity”, “sensor”, “urban computing” and “wireless sensor network” (Wijnants et al.,

2012).

Regarding the dimension of “organisation”, business model innovation had emerged as a

means to foster and support service innovation (e.g. Kindström & Kowalkowski, 2014),

enabling companies to achieve or provide certain benefits of sustainability (Boons & Lüdeke-

Freund, 2013). The “organisation” factor was addressed by more than half of the papers in

the SI category, and by at least a quarter of papers in both the PSS and SOI categories. In

particular, common terms in the SI category were “organisation” (Zhang et al., 2010),

“business model” and “corporate social responsibility” (Edvardsson & Enquist, 2011),

“sustainable business models” (Ganesh, 2012), “strategic planning” (Harmon et al., 2012),

“logistics and learning capabilities” (Rossi et al., 2013), “service operations management”

(Liao et al., 2014), “solution-focused business models” (Reynoso et al., 2015), and “social

entrepreneurship” (Srivastava & Shainesh, 2015).

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In the PSS category, papers adopted terms like “managing use and consumption” (Tang &

Bhamra, 2012), “strategic sustainable development” (Bratt et al., 2013), “business

development” (Tukker & Tischner, 2006; Hernandez-Pardo et al., 2013), “dynamic

capabilities”, “innovation management” and “transition path” (Tietze et al., 2013),

“sustainable business model” (Hannon et al., 2015), and “business model innovation”

(Pailman et al., 2015). While, in the SOI category, terms referring to the “organisation” factor

included “entrepreneurship” and “environmental entrepreneurship” (York & Venkataraman,

2010), “carbon management” and “environmental information management” (Theodoulidis et

al., 2011), “inclusive business model” (Arora & Ali Kazmi, 2012), “waste water

management” (van Vliet, 2012), “new ventures” and “sustainability-driven entrepreneurship”

(Keskin et al., 2013), “catchment management” (Spiller et al., 2013), “brand management”

and “environmental management” (Strategic Direction, 2013), “corporate social

responsibility (CSR)”, “corporate sustainability” and “strategic corporate social responsibility

(SCSR)” (Lai et al., 2015).

With respect to the innovation dimension of “customer”, there seemed to be more of a focus

on the interactions between companies and their customers or users. This is based on the

notion that SOSI often entailed a new form of customer interaction. The “customer”

dimension of innovation was investigated by at least 25% of papers in both the SI and SOI

categories (Table 2). In particular, in the SI category, papers used terms such as “co-

production” (Wilson et al., 2012), “customer needs” (Anttonen et al., 2013), “co-production”

(Galli et al., 2014), and “crowdsourced delivery” (Paloheimo et al., 2016). In SOI, there were

such terms as “open innovation” and “user integration” (Arnold & Barth, 2012), “corporate

citizenship” and “sustainable community development” (Arora & Ali Kazmi, 2012). The PSS

stream analyses “consumer behaviour” (Tang & Bhamra, 2012), “community transformation”

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(Xing et al., 2013), “citizen centered governance” and “e-participation” (Misra, 2014), “co-

creation” (Wolfson et al., 2014), and “open innovation” (Liedtke et al., 2015).

The sampled papers also incoporated several insights on “policy” (Table 2), identifying the

role that both institutions and governments could have in stimulating and supporting service

innovation geared towards sustainability (e.g. Rubalcaba, 2006; Adams et al., 2015). Insights

on “policy” were mainly provided by papers in the SOI stream. Key terms were

“environmental policy” (Carrillo-Hermosilla et al., 2010), “regional development” (Potts,

2010), and “institutional change” (Swilling, 2010). However, the role of policy for SOSI was

under-investigated by both the research streams of PSS and SI (fewer than 25% of papers for

each category). PSS papers did cover “policy instruments”, “policy measures” and “public

policies” (Ceschin & Vezzoli, 2010), “green public procurement” and “procurement” (Bratt

et al., 2013), “citizen centered governance” and “rural e-governance services” (Misra, 2014),

and “government 'demand pull' policy” (Hannon et al., 2015). SI papers mentioned terms

such as “sustainable public procurement” (Galli et al., 2014), and “institutions” (Srivastava &

Shainesh, 2015).

In sum, each research stream appeared to focus on specific dimensions of innovation, while

simultaneously considering multiple dimensions when attempting to define innovation.

Interestingly, all streams acknowledged the critical role of the system dimension, indicating

that new solutions oriented around sustainability inherently brought a systemic view of those

innovations.

3.2.4. Temporal and spatial analysis

In terms of temporal analysis, papers in the PSS category spanned across the entire period,

i.e. from 2004 to 2015. However, the first paper jointly focusing on services, innovation and

sustainability within the SOI stream was not published until 2008 (Wu & Sun, 2008).

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Similarly, in the SI stream, the first paper was not published until 2010 (Zhang et al., 2010).

In terms of topic variation over time, social aspects and social sustainability issues were

seemingly neglected for many years. Indeed, these topics did not appear in our sample of

publications until 2010. Moreover, prior to 2010, there were only marginal references to

social aspects, and these only appeared within the PSS research stream (Rynikiewicz, 2006;

Evans et al., 2007; Partidario et al., 2007). Since 2010, however, a growing amount of

attention has been given to social issues. In the more recent years, several studies have

addressed certain specific sub-topics related to social issues, such as the “aging population”

(Wilson et al., 2012), “economic divide” (Ganesh, 2012), “ethical value” and “corporate

social responsibility” (e.g. York & Venkataraman, 2010; Edvardsson & Enquist, 2011),

“social inclusion” (Reynoso et al., 2015), and “service divide” (Srivastava & Shainesh,

2015).

INSERT Table 3 here

Regarding the spatial analysis of the literature, almost 82% of the sampled papers provided

specific insights related to the location of the study. In particular, more than half of these

papers focused on European countries, and were almost equally distributed among PSS (with

slightly more predominance) (e.g. Bratt et al., 2013; Partidario et al., 2007; Liedtke et al.,

2015), SI (e.g. Ganesh, 2012; Cocca & Ganz, 2015; Hyytinen & Toivonen, 2015) and SOI

(e.g. Keskin et al., 2013; Razumova et al., 2015; Segarra-Ona et al., 2016).

Almost 20% of the papers performed studies localised in Asian countries across all three

categories; PSS (e.g. Xing et al., 2013; Misra, 2014), SI (e.g. Zhang et al., 2010; Liao et al.,

2014) and SOI (e.g. Lai et al., 2015; Weng et al., 2015). Very few studies considered

American countries in general, or Latin America in particular (Cruz & Paolino, 2013;

Hernandez-Pardo et al., 2013), and minimal attention was paid to Africa (e.g. Swilling, 2010;

Ceschin, 2014) or Australia (Potts, 2010). Finally, nearly 14% of studies grouped several

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different countries together, and these mainly belonged to PSS (e.g. Vezzoli & Penin, 2006;

Ceschin, 2013) and SI (e.g. Harmon et al., 2012; Reynoso et al., 2015) categories.

4. Discussion

This section discusses the results of the descriptive and thematic analysis.

First, as highlighted by the descriptive analysis, researchers are placing increasing importance

on the topic of our investigation, i.e. the connection between service innovation and

sustainability or SOSI (Figure 2). Nevertheless, research was found to be fragmented and

isolated in nature, being thinly spread out across many disciplines and journals (Figure 2 &

Table 1). Interestingly, the JCLP was the most frequent publication outlet for the sampled

papers, despite not being a journal focused on service research.

Second, the review of literature revealed the relevance of three research streams of SI, SOI

and PSS, which investigated the topic of SOSI, despite never explicitly focusing on it

(Section 3.2.1). The review of the literature highlighted several publications of PSS research,

which had potential relevance when attempting to further enhance our current understanding

of how companies can develop new service-based solutions to address sustainability issues.

The thematic analysis revealed that the published studies remained primarily concerned with

manufacturing industries, and mainly offered insights into how to complement services with

product innovation. Thus, there was still room for a more encompassing view on how all

kinds of companies can develop service innovation. This demonstrated how more research is

needed to incorporate a transcendent busiss logic (Enquist et al., 2015) in the study of SOSI.

Third, the review of literature confirmed that, despite sustainability entailing social and

economic realms, research remained primarily focused on environmental issues. Ultimately,

the literature still lacked a holistic approach to sustainability, as evidenced by the wealth of

concepts largely applied to specific environmental aspects (Section 3.2.2). Moreover,

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available studies still generally neglected the social element of sustainability (Sections 3.2.2

and 3.2.4), though this trend was supposed to be changing in part due to the emergence of

“transformative services research” (TSR) (e.g. Anderson et al., 2013). Interestingly, our

search strategy did not retrieve any of these studies, since the TSR niche does not take a

holistic approach on sustainability; rather, it focuses mainly on social sustainability.

Fourth, our evidence indicated that studies focused on the connection between service

innovation and sustainability investigated multiple dimensions of innovation (Rantala et al.,

2018). This ranged from the traditional dimension of technology to the more recent

understanding that service innovation entails changes in design and in the ways systems of

connected actors, customers and value propositions are linked in a network. Our thematic

analysis revealed that whilst each stream had a strong focus on only one or two of these

innovation dimensions, the system dimension of SOSI appeared across all categories (Section

3.2.3), thus suggesting that these innovations most often involved a change to the system,

fostering alignment of stakeholders to ensure a value creation network logic (Vargo & Lusch,

2008).

5. An emerging research field: sustainability-oriented service innovation (SOSI)

Although none of them investigated SOSI specifically, the three main research streams of

“sustainability-oriented innovation” (SOI), “product-service system” (PSS) and “service

innovation” (SI) were explored to provide insights into the connection between service

innovation and sustainability.

Firstly, as reconstructed by Jay and Gerard (2015), the concept of SOI has been developed to

spur research on innovations driven by environmental and social sustainability concerns, as

well as economic returns. As it currently stands, SOI is an “umbrella term” that embodies

multiple definitions, concepts and approaches (see Carrillo-Hermosilla, et al. (2010) and

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Adams et al. (2012) for extensive reviews). Yet, a recent literature review on SOI (Adams et

al., 2015) highlighted a knowledge gap between manufacturing and service companies (Peiró

Signes et al., 2014; Segarra-Ona et al., 2014; 2016), and called for SOI to extend its scope to

all innovating companies (Holmlund et al., 2016).

Secondly, the literature on PSS (e.g. Mont & Tukker, 2006; Beuren et al., 2013; Reim et al.,

2015) has contributed to the investigation and support of transitioning from a goods-logic to a

services-logic as a means of fostering sustainability benefits for society (Tukker, 2004). As

such, PSSs have also been successful in enabling the diffusion of sustainability-oriented

innovations (SOIs) (Grosse-Dunker & Hansen, 2011). A service perspective (Lusch et al.,

2007; Vargo & Lusch, 2008) is considered vital when addressing challenges related to SDGs

(Anderson & Ostrom, 2015; Fisk et al., 2016), since service solutions provision helps to

direct certain economic systems towards addressing specific customer needs (e.g. Tukker,

2004; Halme et al., 2007). Current research on PSSs also conceptualises the innovation

and/or reconfiguration of firms’ business models (Bocken et al., 2014), towards integrating

goods and service offerings into more sustainable new solutions (Ceschin, 2013; Mylan,

2015). PSSs can thus foster the development of SOSI, not only through the achievement of

environmental savings, but also through the improvement of socio-economic conditions of

people (Xing et al., 2013). Yet, PSS research still remains predominantly focused on

manufacturing industries (Cook et al., 2006; Kastalli & Van Looy, 2013), due to the fact that

the issue under examination is the transformation of product-based systems into more

service-oriented systems. PSS research can develop even further by embracing the synthesis

approach to service innovation, securing new and wider service business in the compliance to

sustainable development goals (Enquist et al., 2015; UN, 2015).

Thirdly, the literature on SI has grown into an established stream within innovation studies

(see Droege et al., 2009 for an excellent review). SI is considered as a “multi-dimensional

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phenomenon” (Carlborg et al. 2014; Janssen & den Hertog, 2016) that can express itself as a

“new service concept, new customer interaction, new value system/business partners, new

revenue model, new organisational or technological service delivery system” (den Hertog et

al., 2010, p. 19). Thus, it is concerned with the implementation of several types of

innovations in organisational processes, activities and routines, which affect the design,

development and delivery of new service offerings, as solutions or experiences (den Hertog et

al., 2010; Janssen et al, 2015). As discussed earlier, SI research has not yet developed a

strong focus on sustainability, but the emerging “synthesis” approach implies that service

innovation has a much broader application than service companies alone (Coombs & Miles,

2000; Gallouj & Savona, 2010).

The three research streams (PSS, SI, and SOI) were different in how they contributed to the

the current understanding of the ways in which companies can address sustainability or SDGs

through service innovation. Yet, this knowledge has remained in an embryonic phase and

several research gaps still exist (Rantala et al., 2018). Indeed, studies have provided too

heterogeneous insights, which, although valuable, are scattered across the literature and are

often unrelated with one another. Moreover, there was no recognised transdisciplinary

research community that explicitly focused on SOSI (Gustafsson et al., 2016). This

knowledge gap also fostered a proliferation of different concepts, terms, labels and

innovation approaches by researchers from different fields, making it particularly difficult for

those in academia to share results among themselves.

Recent concepts and approaches presented in the literature, such as “CleanServs” (Wolfson et

al., 2014) or the idea of “transformative services” (e.g. Anderson et al., 2013), seem to have

little opportunity to capitalise on the holistically regarded connection between service

innovation and sustainability. This has resulted in further difficulties to produce stimuli

capable of enhancing the embryonic concept of SOSI. CleanServs (Wolfson et al. 2014) has

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dealt primarily with research on the environmental aspects of economic activity, focusing on

topics such as clean technologies, cleaner production and clean innovation. As such, it would

not be a broad enough concept for researchers concerned with social and economic

sustainability issues to use. On the other hand, the idea of TSR mainly revolves around social

issues, and would thus have limited opportunities to inspire holistic research related to service

companies and their SOI activities. Instead, this study argues that integrating ideas on

transcendent business logics for sustainable service business in the synthesis perspective of SI

research has more potential to develop the SOSI field further.

In this paper, our argument has been that a shared research field, identifiable by a clear label,

can facilitate both collaboration and dissemination of results among researchers. Therefore,

this study proposes the label of “sustainability-oriented service innovation” (SOSI), for this

can clearly and uniquely identify a field of research explicitly focused on the connection

between service innovation and sustainability. The term “oriented” was chosen following

prior insights from SOI research that stressed how addressing sustainability is about a new

“direction” (Klewitz & Hansen, 2014), and a ‘dynamic, unfolding process that is achieved

over time’ (Adams et al., 2015, p. 181).

INSERT FIGURE 5 here

Theoretically, although they were still blurred, the contours of the SOSI field were emerging

(Figure 5), at the convergence of the three main streams (SOI, PSS and SI), discussed above,

as well as all those studies investigating the organic relationships between services,

innovation and sustainability. As such, Figure 5 is able to provide several valuable insights

regarding the connection between service innovation and sustainability.

6. Future research pathways

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In 2005, Henry Chesbrough made the case for the emergence of a new service science field.

In our opinion, his comments would now apply to the SOSI field:

Under their watchful eyes, its growth is being stunted. That’s not to say those

disciplines have made no progress… But they’re not making progress across

disciplinary boundaries. People in these different areas don’t review each other’s

work because they don’t publish in the same journals, and they don’t meet because

there isn’t a definitive conference covering the field. It’s no surprise that the work

shows little cumulative advance in learning (Chesbrough, 2005).

The definition of the SOSI field would not replace or completely merge the existing fields of

SOI, SI and PSS. Instead, this study proposes that these streams are important building blocks

towards the development of the SOSI field, which can subsequently develop into an

independent and novel research stream benefiting from the several existing contributions.

Particularly, the SOSI field builds upon insights from:

1. Research focused on SOI, supporting the design, development or delivery of new or

improved service offerings, as well as implementation of new sustainability-oriented

organisational practices, activities and processes;

2. Research on SI that embraces the study of service innovation with the aim of

addressing environmental, social and economic sustainability issues;

3. Research on PSS, which has had the merit of drawing attention to development and

provision of service offerings (solutions or experiences) as a means of addressing

sustainability issues, while improving economic returns for companies.

A recognisable and shared label is clearly a necessary condition to spur research on the topic.

Sufficient conditions for further development have been outlined above. These are concerned

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with the development of new theoretical frameworks, and relate to empirical and policy

questions surrounding SOSI.

Aiming to provide a starting point for the future development of a transdisciplinary research

community in the new area of SOSI, this study offers a preliminary definition of SOSI. In

particular, it envisions both the extension of SOI concepts and the further development of

PSS research into models applicable beyond manufacturing contexts only. Following the

insight from SI research that service innovation is a “multi-dimensional phenomenon”

(Janssen & den Hertog, 2016), this study expects SOSI to develop as a multi-dimensional

concept that captures the different elements of new service solutions by addressing

environmental, social and economic sustainability issues. Based on our thematic analysis,

key dimensions of SOSI are likely to refer to new system approaches for partnerships with

stakeholders, new designs, new technologies, new customer relations or interactions, and new

organisational capabilities, linked to environmental, social and economic sustainability goals,

and holistically regarded.

To foster further enhancement of the SOSI field, future research should focus on the design

and development of new models, which are able to support companies in their SOSI

activities. Given the current paucity of research on the organisational dimension of SOSI,

more theoretical and practical research is needed, to conceptualise, and then implement,

several types of SOSIs as a way to innovate and develop new business models from the

perspective of sustainability-oriented business model innovation (Bocken et al., 2014; França

et al., 2017). These efforts will also entail the study of the specific organisational capabilities

needed for unleashing and managing SOSI into business and thus into society (Amui et al.,

2017). There is need of widening existing capabilities framework for SI (den Hertog et al.,

2010; Janssen et al., 2016) by extending them to include sustainability-oriented elements.

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Finally, understanding how policy, government and institutions can encourage and support

innovative companies is fundamental, as this will help to provide innovative service

offerings, which address environmental, social and economic sustainability challenges, and

are beneficial in collaborative partnerships between business, government, universities and

users (Elzen et al., 2004; UN, 2015). Our review has shown that most studies so far neglected

policy issues, but these issues are prominent in calls for more research on service solutions to

societal challenges (Gallouj et al., 2015).

7. Conclusions

This study contributed the very first literature review focused on SOSI. More specifically, it

conducted a systematic search for peer-reviewed publications (from 2004 up to and including

2015), across a variety of fields, which jointly investigated the topics of services, innovation

and sustainability. The literature review revealed that, to date, few studies have explicitly

focused on the connection between service innovation and sustainability, despite a growing

interest in these research topics. The main contribution of our literature review was to

underline that an overarching research field is still missing, and that the available studies

mainly stem from the three existing research streams of SOI, SI and PSS, with a dominance

of the latter. This result had clear implications for research. A first implication has been that

many insights on how service innovation can contribute to sustainability goals were already

there, but scattered across fields. This made it difficult to build upon existing research in a

systematic way. A second implication is that the convergence of the three streams towards

common topics opened the way for the emergence of a a new research field.

This paper introduced the label of “sustainability-oriented service innovation” (SOSI). The

different streams of SOI, SI and PSS appeared to all have opportunities to evolve in the

direction of SOSI, despite a lack of realisation thus far. The definition of a recognisable label,

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i.e. SOSI, was just the first step for the theoretical and practical advancement of the new

research field.

Three main directions for further research are outlined below.

Firstly, conceptual work is needed to merge and adapt existing conceptual dimensions

underlying the three pillars of SOSI. This work will allow specifying the foundations of SOSI

for the sake of developing relevant measurement tools capturing its key determinants.

Secondly, with the ambition to not only recognize SOSI but also to understand how to

manage it, further research will have to investigate the organizational capabilities needed to

implement SOSI. As this implementation is expected to require fundamental changes in how

companies approach their business, the identification of key capabilities will have important

managerial implications. Here further research can take stock of the rich evidence on the

painstaking processes of servitization that companies go through when shifting to a service-

oriented business model. Similarly, aiming at more sustainable offers also requires a major

rethinking from the side of companies. While a framework such as the one in Janssen et al.,

(2016) already offers a useful starting point, more research is needed to capture the additional

capabilities required by sustainability challenges.

Finally, further research will have to take seriously the policy question, especially if one

believes that society would need to promote SOSI as much as possible. Janssen and Castaldi

(2018) propose to develop policy rationales using a capability perspective, as an alternative to

classical market failure arguments. Then relevant policy questions would be: is there enough

SOSI capability development in a region/country? Such an approach makes the investigation

of the capabilities needed for SOSI of broader relevance than to companies alone: it is in the

interest of policymakers to check the extent of capability development in the local

organizations.

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To conclude, it is our hope that these future research efforts will be taken up by a vibrant

research community contributing to a currently under-investigated but highly relevant area.

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Table 1. Distribution of papers across journals is shown (total n.° 51 articles, conference

proceedings excluded)

Source n.°
Journal of Cleaner Production 16
Foresight 2
Journal of Business Research 2
Sustainability (Switzerland) 2
Business and Society 1
Energy Efficiency 1
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 1
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 1
Information Communication and Society 1
Innovation in Life Cycle Engineering and Sustainable Development 1
International Business Management 1
International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management 1
International Journal of Design 1
International Journal of Production Research 1
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 1
International Journal of Sustainable Engineering 1
International Journal of Technology Management 1
IT Professional 1
Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 1
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 1
Journal of Service Management 1
Journal of Sustainable Tourism 1
Journal of Technology Management and Innovation 1
MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems 1
Production Planning and Control 1
Resources, Conservation and Recycling 1
Service Industries Journal 1
Strategic Direction 1
Supply Chain Management 1
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal 1
Sustainable Development 1
Total Quality Management and Business Excellence 1
Water Resources Management 1

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 Table 2. The distribution of papers across the identified research streams of product-service system (PSS), service innovation (SI) and

sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) is depicted.

Final Sample Categories Sustainability Dimensions Innovation Dimensions Policy

(n.° 61) Research Streams Social Environmental System Design Technology Organisation Customer

e.g. Hannon et al., 2015;

Wolfson et al., 2014; Bratt
n.° 24 PSS et al., 2013; Xing et al.,
2013; Evans et al., 2007;

Time Frame: 2004-2015

e.g. Paloheimo et al., 2016;

Srivastava & Shainesh,
2015; Reynoso et al., 2015;
n.° 18 SI Cocca & Ganz, 2015;
Anttonen et al., 2013;

Time Frame: 2010-2016

e.g. Segarra-Ona et al.,

2016; Keskin et al., 2013;
n.° 19 SOI Carrillo-Hermosilla et al.,
2010; Potts, 2010; York &
Venkataraman, 2010;

Time Frame: 2008-2016

Table Colours Legend. The different colour gradation identifies the different focus of papers on the identified topics, as highlighted in the thematic analysis. The following percentages are calculated with
respect to the total number of each category, indicated on leftmost column.
Dark gray: 2/3 or more of the papers deals with the topic referred by the columns header.
Upper intermediate gray: more than half.
Lower intermediate gray: at least 25%.
Light gray: less than 25%.

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Table 3. The distribution of sampled papers by the different geographical location (based on

where the research was focused) is shown.

Final Sample Product-Service Service Innovation Sustainability-oriented Tot.

(n.° 61) System (PSS) (SI) Innovation (SOI)
Africa 2 0 1 3
Asia 2 4 4 10
America 2 1 0 3
Australia 0 0 1 1
Europe 9 7 10 26
Multi-countries 3 3 1 7
Undefined 6 3 2 11

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The captions of the figures are as following:

Figure 1. The strategy adopted for searching for peer-reviewed publications jointly focusing

on services, innovation and sustainability is depicted.

Figure 2. The distribution of the final sample of papers (n=61), as detected by Scopus results,

is respectively depicted per subject area on the left and over time on the right.

Figure 3. The frequency of keywords indicated in the final sample of papers (n=61) is

revealed, as detected by Scopus results

Figure 4. On the left, the distribution of empirical research methods and type of data used is

shown (n.° = 49 empirical papers). On the right, the distribution of service sectors explicitly

addressed in the studies is outlined (n.° = 38, several sectors for each study possible)

Figure 5. This theoretical framework outlines the contours of the emerging “Sustainability-

oriented Service Innovation” (SOSI) field. The SOSI field mainly lies at the convergence of

the three existing streams of SOI, PSS and SI, as well as all those studies investigating the

organic relationships between services, innovation and sustainability.

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APPENDIX A. The list of sampled papers (n.° 61) in chronological order is provided.

Authors Title Year Source Type Author keywords Category

Michelini, R.C., Razzoli, R.P. Product-service for environmental 2004 Resources, Conservation Review Extended enterprises; KILT-models; Method PSS
safeguard: A metrics to sustainability and Recycling 42(1), pp. innovation; Sustainability; TYPUS-metrics;
83-98
Rynikiewicz, C. Meeting the climate change challenge: 2006 Innovation in Life Cycle Article Climate change; Eco-efficiency; Sufficiency PSS
Towards social and technical innovations for Engineering and innovations;
a functional society Sustainable Development
pp. 33-48
Tukker, A., Tischner, U. Product-services as a research field: past, 2006 Journal of Cleaner Article Business development; Eco-efficient; Factor PSS
present and future. Reflections from a Production 14(17), pp. 4; Pooling; Product-oriented services;
decade of research 1552-1556 Product-service systems; Product-services;
PSS; Renting; Result-oriented services;
Sharing; Sustainability; System innovation;
Vezzoli, C., Penin, L. Campus: "Lab" and "window" for sustainable 2006 International Journal of Review Experimental designs; Learning; Service PSS
design research and education: The DECOS Sustainability in Higher systems; Sustainable development;
educational network experience Education 7(1), pp. 69-80

Evans, S., Partidário, P.J., Industrialization as a key element of 2007 International Journal of Article Partnership building; Product-service PSS
Lambert, J. sustainable product-service solutions Production Research system; Production consumption;
45(18-19), pp. 4225-4246 Production platforms; Sustainable
innovation;
Partidário, P.J., Lambert, J., Building more sustainable solutions in 2007 Journal of Cleaner Article Local context; Partnership building; PSS
Evans, S. production-consumption systems: the case Production 15(6), pp. 513- Production-consumption system;
of food for people with reduced access 524 Sustainable innovation;
Wu, Y., Sun, C. A research on the green technology 2008 2008 International Conference Cemetery industry; China; Green SOI
innovation of the cemetery industry Seminar on Business and Paper technology; Innovation; Measures;
Information
Management, ISBIM 2008
1,5117451, pp. 147-150
Zhang, K., Cang, P., Song, F., Research on STOF-model-based innovation 2010 2010 International Conference E-waste recycling; Service innovation; SI
Geldermann, J. of e-waste recycling service system Conference on Paper Service system; STOF (Service, Technology,
Management and Service Organization & Finance);
Science, MASS 2010
5577533
York, J.G., Venkataraman, S. The entrepreneur-environment nexus: 2010 Journal of Business Article Creation; Entrepreneurship; Environmental; SOI
Uncertainty, innovation, and allocation Venturing 25(5), pp. 449- Environmental entrepreneurship;
463 Innovation; Sustainability; Uncertainty;
Carrillo-Hermosilla, J., Del Río, Diversity of eco-innovations: Reflections 2010 Journal of Cleaner Article Case study method; Eco-innovation; SOI
P., Könnölä, T. from selected case studies Production 18(10-11), pp. Environmental policy;
1073-1083
APPENDIX A. (Continued)
Swilling, M. Sustainability, poverty and municipal 2010 Sustainable Development Article Cape Town; Innovation; Institutional SOI
services: The case of Cape Town, South 18(4), pp. 194-201 change; Poverty; Sustainable cities;
Africa Sustainable resource use; Sustainable urban
development;
Potts, T. The natural advantage of regions: linking 2010 Journal of Cleaner Article Natural advantages; Regional development; SOI
sustainability, innovation, and regional Production 18(8), pp. 713- Sustainable innovation;
development in Australia 725
Ceschin, F., Vezzoli, C. The role of public policy in stimulating radical 2010 International Journal of Article Automotive industry; Design; Environmental PSS
environmental impact reduction in the Automotive Technology impact reduction; Functional economy;
automotive sector: The need to focus on and Management 10(2-3), Policy instruments; Policy measures;
product-service system innovation pp. 321-341 Product-service system; PSS; Public policies;
Sustainability;
Hjalmarsson, A., Lind, M. Challenges in establishing sustainable 2011 19th European Conference Innovation orchestration; Network design; SOI
innovation Conference on Paper Public transportation; Sustainable
Information Systems, ECIS innovation;
2011
Theodoulidis, B., Diaz, D., Zaki, "carbon footprint" innovation through 2011 Proceedings - 2011 Conference Carbon footprint; Carbon management; SOI
M. Environmental Information Management Annual SRII Global Paper Environmental information management;
Conference, SRII 2011 Innovation; Sustainability;
5958127, pp. 506-516
Edvardsson, B., Enquist, B. The service excellence and innovation 2011 Total Quality Article Business model; Corporate social SI
model: Lessons from IKEA and other service Management and responsibility; Innovation; Service
frontiers Business Excellence 22(5), excellence; Service-dominant logic;
pp. 535-551 Sustainability; Value creation; Values;
Zailani, S., Amran, A., Jumadi, Green innovation adoption among logistics 2011 International Business Article Green innovation; Logistics service SI
H. service providers in Malaysia: An exploratory Management 5(3), pp. sustainability; Malaysia; Perceptions;
study on the managers' perceptions 104-113 Proportinate; Revolutionary;
Harmon, R.R., Demirkan, H. The next wave of sustainable IT 2011 IT Professional Article green IT; information technology; SI
13(1),5601681, pp. 19-25 innovation; IT services; service science;
sustainability;
Ganesh, J. Bridging the economic divide through service 2012 Proceedings - 2012 3rd Conference Economic Divide; Service Innovations; SI
innovations International Conference Paper Social; Sustainable Business Models;
on Services in Emerging
Markets, ICSEM 2012
6468174, pp. 14-19
Wijnants, M., Lamotte, W., An eco-friendly hybrid urban computing 2012 Proceedings - Green Conference Community-based Internet access; Digital SOI
Letor, N., (...), Matthys, N., network combining community-based Computing and Paper service innovation; Energy efficiency;
Huygens, C. wireless LAN access and wireless sensor Communications Seamless Wi-Fi connectivity; Sensor; Smart
networking (GreenCom), 2012 IEEE spaces; Urban computing; Wireless sensor
International Conference network;
on (pp. 410-417). IEEE.
APPENDIX A. (Continued)
Tang, T., Bhamra, T. Putting consumers first in design for 2012 International Journal of Article consumer behaviour; design strategy; PSS
sustainable behaviour: A case study of Sustainable Engineering environmental product design;
reducing environmental impacts of cold 5(4), pp. 288-303 ethnographic research; managing use and
appliance use consumption; sustainable innovation;
Wilson, R., Maniatopoulos, G., INNOVATING RELATIONSHIPS: Taking a co- 2012 Information Article co-production; health and social care; older SI
Martin, M., McLoughlin, I. productive approach to the shaping of Communication and people; requirements gathering; service
telecare services for older people Society 15(7), pp. 1136- innovation; system design;
1163
Cook, M., Gottberg, A., Angus, Receptivity to the production of product 2012 Journal of Cleaner Article Product service systems; Sustainable urban PSS
A., Longhurst, P. service systems in the UK construction and Production 32, pp. 61-70 environments; Waste prevention;
manufacturing sectors: A comparative
analysis
van Vliet, B.J.M. Sustainable Innovation in Network-Bound 2012 Journal of Environmental Article drinking water; electricity supply; Network- SOI
Systems: Implications for the Consumption Policy and Planning 14(3), bound systems; social practices; sustainable
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Services management;
Arora, B., Ali Kazmi, S.B. Performing Citizenship: An Innovative Model 2012 Business and Society Article corporate citizenship; inclusive business SOI
of Financial Services for Rural Poor in India 51(3), pp. 450-477 model; innovation; sustainable community
development;
Arnold, M., Barth, V. Open innovation in urban energy systems 2012 Energy Efficiency 5(3), pp. Article Bottom-up urban transformation; Energy SOI
351-364 efficiency; Open innovation; Service
innovation; Urban planning processes; User
integration;
Lelah, A., Mathieux, F., Collaborative network with SMEs providing a 2012 Production Planning and Article Collaborative networks; Model; PSS; SME; PSS
Brissaud, D., Vincent, L. backbone for urban PSS: A model and initial Control 23(4), pp. 299- SOA; Sustainability;
sustainability analysis 314
Harmon, R.R., Demirkan, H., Roadmapping the next wave of sustainable 2012 Foresight 14(2), pp. 121- Review Green IT; Information technology; Strategic SI
Raffo, D. IT 138 planning; Sustainable IT; Technology
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Ferrer, A.J., Hernández, F., OPTIMIS: A holistic approach to cloud service 2012 Future Generation Conference Cloud services; Computing industry; SI
Tordsson, J., (...), Sharif, T., provisioning Computer Systems 28(1), Paper Dynamic provisioning; Eco-efficiency;
Sheridan, C. pp. 66-77 Holistic approach; Resource requirements;
Service construction; Service platforms;
Sustainable services;
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Cozzolino, A., Christopher, M. efficiency innovation: An empirical study Management 18(6), pp. capabilities; Logistics innovation; Logistics
583-603 service providers; Sustainable supply chains;
Tietze, F., Schiederig, T., Firms' transition to green product service 2013 International Journal of Article Car-sharing; Dynamic capabilities; PSS
Herstatt, C. system innovators: Cases from the mobility Technology Management Innovation management; Product service
sector 63(1-2), pp. 51-69 system; Sustainable mobility; Transition
path;
APPENDIX A. (Continued)
Cruz, S., Paulino, S. Public service innovation and evaluation 2013 Journal of Technology Article Clean development mechanism; Service SI
indicators Management and innovation; Sustainability evaluation
Innovation 8(SPL.ISS.2), indicators; Urban solid waste sector;
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Bratt, C., Hallstedt, S., Robèrt, Assessment of criteria development for 2013 Journal of Cleaner Article Green public procurement; Procurement; PSS
K.-H., Broman, G., Oldmark, J. public procurement from a strategic Production 52, pp. 309- Strategic sustainable development;
sustainability perspective 316 Sustainability;
Xing, K., Ness, D., Lin, F.-R. A service innovation model for synergistic 2013 Journal of Cleaner Article Community transformation; Product-service PSS
community transformation: Integrated Production 43, pp. 93-102 systems; Service innovation; Soft systems
application of systems theory and product- methodology; Sustainability; Synergism;
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[No author name available] In the green corner: How IBM, Unilever and 2013 Strategic Direction 29(5), Review Brand management; Environmental SOI
P&G started winning again: Why big business pp. 19-22 management; Innovation; Sustainability;
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Anttonen, M., Halme, M., The other side of sustainable innovation: Is 2013 Journal of Cleaner Article Customer needs; Material efficiency; Result- SI
Houtbeckers, E., Nurkka, J. there a demand for innovative services? Production 45, pp. 89-103 oriented services; Sustainable innovations;
Ceschin, F. Critical factors for implementing and 2013 Journal of Cleaner Article Commercialisation; Product-Service System PSS
diffusing sustainable product-Service Production 45, pp. 74-88 (PSS); Socio-technical experiments; Strategic
systems: Insights from innovation studies niche management; Sustainability;
and companies' experiences Transition management;
Hernandez-Pardo, R.J., Bhamra, Exploring SME perceptions of sustainable 2013 IEEE Transactions on Article Business development; cooperation; design PSS
T., Bhamra, R. product service systems Engineering Management process; information and communication
60(3),6324430, pp. 483- technology (ICT); innovation; product
495 service systems (PSS); small and medium
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Keskin, D., Diehl, J.C., Innovation process of new ventures driven 2013 Journal of Cleaner Article Creative techniques; New ventures; Product SOI
Molenaar, N. by sustainability Production 45, pp. 50-60 innovation process; Sustainability-driven
entrepreneurship;
Spiller, M., McIntosh, B.S., Implementing Pollution Source Control- 2013 Water Resources Article Catchment management; Co-operative SOI
Seaton, R.A.F., Jeffrey, P. Learning from the Innovation Process in Management 27(1), pp. agreements; Innovation; Pollution source
English and Welsh Water Companies 75-94 control; Water framework directive; Water
utilities;
Liao, Z., Shi, X., Wong, W.-K. Key determinants of sustainable smartcard 2014 Journal of Retailing and Article Key determinants; Retailing and consumer SI
payment Consumer Services 21(3), services; Service operations management;
pp. 306-313 Smartcard payment; Technology-based
service innovation;
Wolfson, A., Tavor, D., Mark, S. CleanServs: Clean Services for a more 2014 Sustainability Accounting, Article Co-creation; Life cycle; Service science; PSS
sustainable world Management and Policy Service system; Sustainability; Sustainable
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Pialot, O., Millet, D. Why upgradability should be considered for 2014 Procedia CIRP 15, pp. 379- Conference PSS; Remanufacturing; Sustainable PSS
rationalizing materials? 384 Paper innovation; Upgrades;
APPENDIX A. (Continued)
Ceschin, F. How the design of socio-technical 2014 International Journal of Article Design for Sustainability; Product-Service PSS
experiments can enable radical changes for Design 8(3), pp. 1-21 System; Radical Innovations; Socio-technical
sustainability Experiment; Strategic Niche Management;
Transition Management;
Cook, M. Fluid transitions to more sustainable product 2014 Environmental Innovation Article Diversity; Fluidity; Product Service Systems; PSS
service systems and Societal Transitions
12, pp. 1-13
Misra, H. Convergence in rural e-governance services 2014 ACM International Conference Citizen centered governance; Convergence; PSS
for sustainable development: A model driven Conference Proceeding Paper E-participation; Models; Rural e-governance
study in Indian context Series 2014-January, pp. services; Sustainable development;
162-165
Galli, F., Brunori, G., Di Iacovo, Co-producing sustainability: Involving 2014 Sustainability Article Civic food networks; Co-production; Public SI
F., Innocenti, S. parents and civil society in the governance of (Switzerland) 6(4), pp. private partnerships; School meals; Social
school meal services. A case study from Pisa, 1643-1666 innovation; Sustainable diets; Sustainable
Italy public procurement;
Hannon, M.J., Foxon, T.J., Gale, Demand pull' government policies to support 2015 Journal of Cleaner Article Energy Service Company (ESCo); PSS
W.F. Product-Service System activity: The case of Production 108, pp. 1-16 Government 'demand pull' policy;
Energy Service Companies (ESCos) in the UK Innovation system; Product Service System
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Cocca, S., Ganz, W. Requirements for developing green services 2015 Service Industries Journal Article green services; innovation; service SI
35(4), pp. 179-196 engineering; sustainability;
Küçüksayraç, E., Keskin, D., Intermediaries and innovation support in the 2015 Journal of Cleaner Article Design for sustainability; Eco-design; SOI
Brezet, H. design for sustainability field: cases from the Production 101,5346, pp. Intermediaries; The Netherlands; The
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Vezzoli, C., Ceschin, F., Diehl, New design challenges to widely implement 2015 Journal of Cleaner Article Design for sustainability; Product-Service; PSS
J.C., Kohtala, C. 'Sustainable Product-Service Systems' Production 97, pp. 1-12 Sustainable; System innovation; Systems;
Liedtke, C., Baedeker, C., User-integrated innovation in Sustainable 2015 Journal of Cleaner Article Experiments; LivingLab; Open innovation; PSS
Hasselkuß, M., Rohn, H., LivingLabs: An experimental infrastructure Production 97, pp. 106- Resource efficiency and protection;
Grinewitschus, V. for researching and developing sustainable 116 Sustainable consumption and production;
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Srivastava, S.C., Shainesh, G. Bridging the service divide through digitally 2015 MIS Quarterly: Article Developing countries; Digital divide; SI
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Indian healthcare service providers Systems 39(1), pp. 245- Service divide; Service innovation; Service
267 science; Service systems; Social
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Razumova, M., Ibáñez, J.L., Drivers of environmental innovation in 2015 Journal of Sustainable Article environmental innovations; hotels; Majorca; SOI
Palmer, J.R.-M. Majorcan hotels Tourism 23(10), pp. 1529- Porter hypothesis;
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Reynoso, J., Kandampully, J., Learning from socially driven service 2015 Journal of Service Article Base of the pyramid; Culture; Emerging SI
Fan, X., Paulose, H. innovation in emerging economies Management 26(1), pp. economies; Inclusion; Indigenous
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Lai, W.-H., Lin, C.-C., Wang, T.- Exploring the interoperability of innovation 2015 Journal of Business Article Corporate innovation service; Corporate SOI
C. capability and corporate sustainability Research 68(4), pp. 867- social responsibility (CSR); Corporate
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Strategic corporate social responsibility
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Hyytinen, K., Toivonen, M. Future energy services: Empowering local 2015 Foresight 17(4), pp. 349- Article Empowerment; Future energy services; SI
communities and citizens 364 Service innovations; Social innovations;
Socio-technical transition; Sustainable
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Pailman, W.L., Kruger, W., Mobile payment innovation for sustainable 2015 Proceedings of the 23rd Conference business model innovation; Decentralised PSS
Prasad, G. energy access Conference on the Paper solar products and services; mobile
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DUE 2015 7102961, pp. mobile payment mechanisms; Sustainable
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Weng, H.-H.R., Chen, J.-S., Effects of green innovation on 2015 Sustainability Article Green innovation; Performance; SOI
Chen, P.-C. environmental and corporate performance: (Switzerland) 7(5), pp. Stakeholder theory;
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Segarra-Oña, M., Peiró-Signes, Twisting the twist: how manufacturing & 2016 Journal of Cleaner Article Absorptive capacity; Eco-innovation; SOI
Á., Mondéjar-Jiménez, J. knowledge-intensive firms excel over Production 138, pp. 19-27 Knowledge; Manufacturing; Operational;
manufacturing & operational and all service Services;
sectors in their eco-innovative orientation
Paloheimo, H., Lettenmeier, M., Transport reduction by crowdsourced 2016 Journal of Cleaner Article Crowdsourced delivery; Library; MIPS; SI
Waris, H. deliveries – a library case in Finland Production 132, pp. 240- Public service; Sustainable transportation;
251
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Highlights
• The literature on sustainability under-investigates service innovation.
• This paper defined the emerging field of sustainability-oriented service innovation.
• The literature review revealed three key research streams in this field.
• More transdisciplinary research on service innovation for sustainability is needed.