Cooperation in R & D and eco-innovations: The role in companies’ socioeconomic performance

In this study, the principles of sustainable development motivated the validation of an original model, in which cooperation in R & D and the green route of eco-innovations satisfactorily explain companies’ socioeconomic performance. Data were collected from 221 electrical and electronic manufacturers operating in Brazil and processed via SmartPLS^®3 using the Structural Equation Modeling technique. We originally demonstrated that the knowledge synergies released from cooperation in R & D with heterogeneous agents are advantageous to the introduction of multidimensional types of eco-innovations, including both technological (product and process) and organizational. We also succeeded in covering a gap in the literature that stems from the fragmented investigation of the well-known Triple Bottom Line paradigm. We filled this gap by showing that eco-innovations, which could be considered the environmental line, are able to positively influence both the social and economic performances of companies. These findings reverse the logic that companies must first have leftover profits to invest in environmental sustainability. Further, our novel contributions allow us to suggest that cooperation in R & D does not have the ability to influence companies’ socioeconomic performance, which confirms our departure model premises in that, although the relation between cooperation in R & D and socioeconomic performance does not directly exist, it is mediated by the introduction of eco-innovations. Future studies may investigate how biomimicry could inspire radical eco-innovations and how digital transformations, such as Industry 4.0 and IoT could boost the efficiency of eco-innovations.