Innovation towards sustainability-oriented behaviour: a systematic synthesis to inform a new societal paradigm

The UN-Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the grand challenges of contemporary society but the question remains of how to move current systems of behaviour in society to a new more sustainable state, given the... [ view full abstract ]

The UN-Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address the grand challenges of contemporary society but the question remains of how to move current systems of behaviour in society to a new more sustainable state, given the embedded uncertainties and complexities of such a process. There is a need to develop a greater understanding of the context in which decisions are made and to acknowledge the twin dimensions of institutional and individual dynamics within the concept of sustainability. This paper aims to contribute to a new conceptual framing of sustainability-oriented behaviour within a policy and governance context, and provides initial guidance from a wider disciplinary perspective. The authors review and integrate findings from a diverse body of literature across science, social-science and business disciplines and, in so doing, inform a synthesized review that advances a new evidence-informed societal paradigm. This study utilized a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology to identify work on influencing sustainability-oriented behaviour within a policy and governance context. The SLR method addresses these challenges by identifying, critically evaluating and interrogating findings from relevant literature across a wide range of disciplines utilising a rigorous evidence-based methodology. A range of electronic databases, including EBSCO Business Source Complete, ISI Web of Knowledge and JSTOR were searched and 349 papers identified using 10 key search terms. The papers were then screened using inclusion/exclusion criteria. Paper selection was subsequently refined by a blind independent eligibility review process performed by the two authors using a standardized template which produced a core of 32 studies.  Key findings from the literature include a lack of commonality in defining sustainability and thus, how to achieve it, as well as a lack of consideration of the wider social dimension of socially stratified value sets coupled with poor recognition of the complexity of sustainable behaviour as an iterative process. These challenges are pressing as the political system struggles to match the twin demands of economic prosperity while protecting and enhancing environmental quality for the well-being of society and the health of citizens.  The imperative that emerges from this study is a recognition of the need to build innovative relationship networks in society, in which the value of sustainability is created.  The data in these studies was interrogated and integrated in the synthesis of a new approach to the guidance of sustainable governance.   Results of this study suggest a vertically integrated institutional rather than individual action based approach, so that norms are re-defined and society is guided towards a more integrated model with the potential to bring about systems-shaping innovations. This innovative process can be seen as the set of connected actions at an institutional and governance level that shifts a system such as a community, a sector or an economy towards a more sustainable path. This provides the template for the development and integration of new approaches to shaping sustainability in society based on nested innovation networks working in consort.  Such approaches hold great promise as models to modify society and lead to the development of a new environmental paradigm.

Key Words: Sustainable, Consumer behaviour, Governance, environment