Toward Servitized Research: An Integrated Approach for Sustainable Product-Service Innovation

Wim Coreynen; Arjen van Witteloostuijn; Johanna Vanderstraeten

doi:10.3390/su13158422

Toward Servitized Research: An Integrated Approach for Sustainable Product-Service Innovation

Wim Coreynen^*, Arjen van Witteloostuijn, Johanna Vanderstraeten

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

This article proposes to bring the sustainable product-service innovation (PSI) field into a next phase—after two phases of exploring why and how firms achieve sustainable PSI growth, we suggest to further focus on finding when they actually do so. Based on prior studies, we pinpoint and describe two main shortcomings in the current body of PSI literature: (1) an overemphasis on the firm level, and (2) an overuse of descriptive case studies. These shortcomings are used as step-ping-stones for formulating a research approach that integrates Multiple Levels (namely, the firm, its environment, and its people), mixes different Methods (both qualitative and quantitative) and that turns researchers to Action (through advice and training). This MLMA approach offers ample new research opportunities and turns the servitization research community into a servitized community by leveraging academic insights to better support firms in improving their economic and environmental performance.

Original language	English
Article number	8422
Pages (from-to)	1-21
Number of pages	21
Journal	Sustainability
Volume	13
Issue number	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158422
Publication status	Published - 28 Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: The first author is grateful for the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71874152, 71732008, 71572187), the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences (Grant No. 21AZD010) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities during his time as postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Intellectual Property Management (IIPM) at the School of Management at Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Hangzhou, P.R. China.

Funding Information:
The first author is grateful for the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71874152, 71732008, 71572187), the National Office forPhilosophy and Social Sciences (Grant No. 21AZD010) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities during his time as postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Intellectual Property Management (IIPM) at the School of Management at Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Hangzhou, P.R. China.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Funding

Acknowledgments: The first author is grateful for the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71874152, 71732008, 71572187), the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences (Grant No. 21AZD010) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities during his time as postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Intellectual Property Management (IIPM) at the School of Management at Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Hangzhou, P.R. China. The first author is grateful for the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71874152, 71732008, 71572187), the National Office forPhilosophy and Social Sciences (Grant No. 21AZD010) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities during his time as postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Intellectual Property Management (IIPM) at the School of Management at Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Hangzhou, P.R. China.

Funders	Funder number
National Office forPhilosophy and Social Sciences
National Natural Science Foundation of China	71874152, 71572187, 71732008
Zhejiang University
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences	21AZD010

Keywords

Action research
Mixed methods
Multiple levels
Product-service innovation
Theory integration

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.3390/su13158422

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Cite this

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title = "Toward Servitized Research: An Integrated Approach for Sustainable Product-Service Innovation",

abstract = "This article proposes to bring the sustainable product-service innovation (PSI) field into a next phase—after two phases of exploring why and how firms achieve sustainable PSI growth, we suggest to further focus on finding when they actually do so. Based on prior studies, we pinpoint and describe two main shortcomings in the current body of PSI literature: (1) an overemphasis on the firm level, and (2) an overuse of descriptive case studies. These shortcomings are used as step-ping-stones for formulating a research approach that integrates Multiple Levels (namely, the firm, its environment, and its people), mixes different Methods (both qualitative and quantitative) and that turns researchers to Action (through advice and training). This MLMA approach offers ample new research opportunities and turns the servitization research community into a servitized community by leveraging academic insights to better support firms in improving their economic and environmental performance.",

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N2 - This article proposes to bring the sustainable product-service innovation (PSI) field into a next phase—after two phases of exploring why and how firms achieve sustainable PSI growth, we suggest to further focus on finding when they actually do so. Based on prior studies, we pinpoint and describe two main shortcomings in the current body of PSI literature: (1) an overemphasis on the firm level, and (2) an overuse of descriptive case studies. These shortcomings are used as step-ping-stones for formulating a research approach that integrates Multiple Levels (namely, the firm, its environment, and its people), mixes different Methods (both qualitative and quantitative) and that turns researchers to Action (through advice and training). This MLMA approach offers ample new research opportunities and turns the servitization research community into a servitized community by leveraging academic insights to better support firms in improving their economic and environmental performance.

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Toward Servitized Research: An Integrated Approach for Sustainable Product-Service Innovation

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

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Cite this