The role of networks and sustainable intrapreneurship as interactive drivers catalyzing the adoption of sustainable innovation

This paper explores which are the drivers and their interactions that can lead organizations to adopt radical sustainable innovation (SI) in unfavorable contexts. We identify external and internal drivers of SI adoption, and we conceptualize sustainable intrapreneurship as an additional driver. We report and discuss the findings from a case study in the water sector based on interviews and secondary data collected among eleven water utilities in Israel, Italy, and Spain. We provide new insights on how interactions between external and internal drivers can generate dynamic cycles that gradually shift utilities from a reactive to an embedding and system change approach in adopting SI. Within this process, networks and sustainable intrapreneurship act as interactive drivers that catalyze internal and external drivers. The study links testable propositions in a conceptual model describing the dynamics triggering SI adoption and argues for the relevance of sustainable intrapreneurship for addressing the systemic nature, complexity, and ambiguity of SI adoption.