A Combined Scientometric and Meta-analysis Exploration of Eco-innovation: Evolution and Determinants

Sustainable development has received more attention in recent years due to growing ecological and environmental concerns. Thus, eco-innovation becomes a topic of increasing interest and generates a large amount of publications. This paper uses extensive data from Web of Science and Scopus to examine the evolution of eco-innovation research and also uses meta-analysis to delve deeper into the determinants. The findings reveal that (1) the number of publications has increased steadily over three stages-slow budding, steady development, and rapid growth-with an overall average growth rate of 16.0%; (2) increasing countries/regions are studying eco-innovation, primarily in developed countries, but the contribution from developing countries is also growing; (3) the most published journals are Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, Business Strategy and the Environment, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Ecological Economics; (4) keyword analysis reveals determinants of eco-innovation is a long-term hot topic; (5) meta-analysis concludes that innovation capability and environmental regulations can significantly affect eco-innovation; and (6) high economic development level can effectively enhance eco-innovation by improving R&D, knowledge, and innovation capability. Compared to large firms, eco-innovation by small and medium-sized firms is more influenced by cooperation and government. This paper suggests the government should construct more financial institutions to relieve firms' investment pressures, as well as a property right protection mechanism and corresponding innovative knowledge reward.