Classification of Sustainable Innovations: Dimensions, Scope and Variations - Multi-Case Study in Civil Construction in The State of Paraíba

Abstract

Objective: Classify sustainable innovations in the construction industry in the State of Paraíba.   Theoretical Framework: Sustainable innovation, its dimensions (product, process, organizational), scope (radical/incremental, proactive/reactive) and variations (integrated, complementary, technological - corrective/preventive, pollution control, cleaner production, environmental technology and environmental - and social - endogenous/exogenous R&D).   Method: Descriptive, exploratory study. Conducted in the form of a multiple case study. Data collected through semi-structured interviews, systematic observation and documents analyzed using the content analysis technique.   Results and Conclusions: in the product dimension, the innovations were, for the most part, incremental and proactive in scope. And the variation fell into environmental and complementary technology. In the process dimension, they presented incremental and proactive coverage. As for the variation, they presented technological characteristics of cleaner production. In the organizational dimension, they presented radical, incremental, proactive and reactive coverage. Only in Company C did they present characteristics of complementary and endogenous social variation. It can be concluded that the companies investigated are aligned with the sustainable development paradigm, but with incremental predominance.   Implications of the Research: The research reinforces the concept of sustainable innovation and its dimensions, variations and scope. Furthermore, it classifies innovations based on several previous researches, compiling them and demonstrating their applications in the practice of construction companies.   Originality: The proposed classification of sustainable innovations in the way it was done in this research is considered original, which, in addition to reinforcing previous theoretical studies, makes an empirical application and demonstrates in practice how the theory of sustainable innovation can be verified.