Corporate Governance, Innovation Management and Sustainability Performance

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue seeks to advance interdisciplinary research at the convergence of corporate governance mechanisms, innovation management strategies, and organizational sustainability outcomes. While existing literature has examined these domains independently, critical knowledge gaps persist regarding their dynamic interdependencies.

The issue prioritizes three research vectors:

(a) How governance structures shape innovative ecosystems.
(b) The mediating role of innovation capabilities in translating governance decisions into sustainability outcomes.
(c) Contextual factors influencing the governance-innovation-sustainability nexus across institutional environments.

We welcome theoretical frameworks, empirical studies, and policy analyses addressing:

• Stakeholder-centric governance models for sustainable innovation.
• Digital transformation's dual impact on governance complexity and innovation efficiency.
• Metrics development for ESG-aligned innovation performance.
• Comparative studies across industries (e.g., energy, fintech, manufacturing) and regions.

This collection aims to:

Establish a unified conceptual model bridging fragmented disciplinary perspectives;

Provide evidence-based insights for aligning SDG implementation with corporate innovation roadmaps;

Reconcile the shareholder-stakeholder dichotomy through innovation value chain analysis.

This issue addresses three critical limitations in current scholarship:

◆ First, it transcends the prevailing siloed approach by systematically examining triadic relationships. Prior studies predominantly investigate pairwise connections (e.g., governance-sustainability or innovation-performance), overlooking the cascading effects through intermediate variables. Our framework introduces temporal and hierarchical dimensions to these interactions.

◆ Second, it challenges the static view of governance mechanisms by incorporating dynamic capability theory. While extant research focuses on structural governance attributes (e.g., board independence), we emphasize processual aspects - how governance systems adapt to sustain innovation pipelines amidst climate disruptions and technological paradigm shifts.

◆Third, the issue expands geographical diversity in evidence bases. Current knowledge disproportionately reflects Anglo-European contexts; we particularly encourage submissions analyzing emerging economies where institutional voids create unique governance-innovation challenges.

By synthesizing insights from corporate strategy, organizational theory, and sustainability science, this collection will:

▼ Develop a contingency framework for context-sensitive governance innovation;

▼ Provide benchmarking tools for SDG-aligned R&D portfolio management;

▼Inform regulatory reforms balancing innovation encouragement with sustainability accountability.

We invite contributions that combine theoretical rigor with practical relevance, particularly those employing multi-level analyses and longitudinal designs to capture the evolving nature of governance-innovation-sustainability synergies in the Industry 5.0 era.

Dr. Daqian Shi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• stakeholder governance models
• ESG-aligned innovation
• sustainability transition pathways
• digital governance ecosystems
• SDG-driven corporate strategy
• innovation value chain analysis
• institutional void adaptation
• governance-innovation configurations
• sustainability performance metrics