Search Results (12)

Coastal ecosystems are among the most biodiverse and economically valuable environments on Earth, yet they face escalating threats from climate change, development, and resource exploitation. Traditional conservation approaches have proven insufficient to address the systemic drivers of biodiversity loss, calling for transformative change that fundamentally reconfigures social–ecological systems. This semi-structured systematic literature review synthesizes current knowledge on transformative change in coastal biodiversity conservation, guided by the Social–Ecological Systems Framework (SESF) and expanded to include behavioral transformation as a central dimension. Behavioral transformation is defined as the sustained embedding of new attitudes, norms, and practices within governance, institutional, and community settings. Through a comprehensive review of academic databases (SCOPUS, Web of Science, CAB Abstracts) and gray literature, 134 studies published between 2010 and 2024 were analyzed. The synthesis identifies four interdependent pathways of transformation: (1) governance innovation and power redistribution, (2) behavioral change and stakeholder engagement, (3) socio-ecological restructuring, and (4) normative and cultural shifts in human–nature relations. Successful initiatives integrate trust-building, social justice, and participatory decision-making, linking behavioral change with institutional redesign and adaptive management. However, critical gaps remain in understanding long-term durability, equity outcomes, and scalability across governance levels. The review proposes three research priorities: (1) embedding behavioral science in conservation design, (2) employing longitudinal and cross-scale analyses, and (3) advancing adaptive, learning-based governance to enhance socio-ecological resilience. Full article

Natural resource assets inherently integrate tripartite synthesis of legal, economic, and ecological attributes. They serve dual critical functions as foundational elements supporting the evolution of new-quality productive forces and pivotal mechanisms safeguarding ecosystemic integrity. It has become a global consensus and direction of action to advance comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets and practice the concept of “Community of Life for Human and Nature”. Under the background of the super-ministry system restructuring in China, comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets remains challenged by system fragmentation in supervision objectives and multifaceted interest conflicts among stakeholders. In light of this, this research focuses on the theoretical justification and system optimization of the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets in China. Using comparative analysis and normative analysis methods, we validate the system’s function on the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets, summarize foreign experiences, and ultimately aim to explore the optimization pathway of the legal system for the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets. The results show the following: (1) The choice of the legal system for the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets emerges as the functional product aligning societal objectives, the rational paradigm for achieving efficient resource allocation, and the adaptive response to the external effects of common property. (2) The system supply of comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets in foreign countries is characterized by normative convergence in conceptual elements and typological categorization in objectives and objects. Therefore, this research recommends that, in order to optimize the system of the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets in China, (1) in terms of protection of source, natural resource assets should be categorized, with operational natural resource assets focusing on management and public welfare natural resource assets focusing on conservation. (2) In terms of valuation, the economic valuation of natural resource assets should be integrated with ecosystem service assessments to enhance fair market equity. (3) In terms of method, the big data center should be established to enable the synergistic integration of technological innovation and system reforms. (4) In terms of subject, requiring the participation of various government departments, non-governmental organizations, the general public, and other parties could realize the connection of different legal bases for the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets and the balance of multiple rights and interests, which should help to achieve balanced resource efficiency and biodiversity conservation and safeguard national ecological security. Full article

Coopetition, the strategic blend of competition and collaboration, has emerged as a critical strategy for firms navigating today’s interconnected and resource-constrained global economy. While coopetition networks offer substantial benefits, such as fostering innovation, market expansion, and scalability, they are fraught with challenges like resource-sharing risks, trust deficits, and the inherent tension between collaboration and competition. Despite these hurdles, the transformative potential of technology in enabling and enhancing coopetition networks remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by integrating Service-Dominant Logic (S-D Logic) and institutional work to propose a comprehensive framework for technology-driven coopetition networks. It identifies seven systemic building blocks—coopetition actors, resource integration, service exchange, institutions, nested ecosystems, operand technologies, and operant technologies—that facilitate sustainable value co-creation. These components enable firms to navigate dynamic market conditions by fostering trust, collaboration, and innovation. This research emphasizes technology’s pivotal role as a transformative enabler and strategic driver, enabling real-time interaction, seamless resource integration, and institutional alignment. Institutional work is highlighted as essential for managing regulatory, normative, and cognitive dimensions to ensure the Adaptability and longevity of coopetition ecosystems. By providing actionable insights into the design and management of resilient, technology-driven coopetition networks, this study offers a roadmap for sustainable and equitable value distribution. It contributes to the evolving discourse on strategic business networks, empowering organizations to harness the power of coopetition in an increasingly complex global marketplace. Full article

This study investigates the moderating effects of positive and negative reciprocity on the relationship between institutional environment dimensions—cognitive and normative institutions—and innovativeness on early-stage entrepreneurial activities. Utilizing logistic regression models and data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Adult Population Survey (APS) and the Global Preferences Survey (GPS) across 21 countries, which contains over 22,000 identified individuals, the findings reveal significant insights into how these institutional factors, innovativeness and reciprocity influence entrepreneurial activities globally. As a result of the analysis, (1) contrary to the predominant view that innovativeness universally promotes entrepreneurial success, this study identifies a significant negative relationship between innovativeness and early-stage entrepreneurial activities. (2) Positive reciprocity moderates the effects of both normative institutions and innovativeness, reducing the positive impact of normative institutions while mitigating the negative impact of innovativeness on entrepreneurial activities. (3) Conversely, negative reciprocity significantly amplifies the effects of both normative institutions and innovativeness, intensifying the positive impact of normative institutions and exacerbating the negative impact of innovativeness. By incorporating data from diverse national contexts, this research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting entrepreneurial activities and emphasizes the importance of fostering balanced social interactions. This approach aims to enhance the growth and sustainability of entrepreneurial activities globally, offering valuable insights for national policy development focused on sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems. Full article

The urgency of mitigating climate change and the challenges it poses to ecosystems and human systems are highlighted in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). In order to achieve sustainable development, it is imperative to adopt a series of adaptive measures to enhance the resilience of various sectors to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This article analyzes the driving mechanism behind the reduction in electricity consumption by urban residents based on 302 valid questionnaires from 18 communities in nine districts in B City. Using a method that combines qualitative and empirical research, the study proposes policy recommendations aimed at guiding urban residents toward reducing their electricity consumption. These recommendations serve as a policy reference for cities striving to achieve sustainability and low-carbon targets. The primary innovations and conclusions of the study are as follows: (1) this study summarizes the primary factors and processes influencing the reduction in electricity consumption among urban residents, examined from the following three perspectives: residents’ characteristics, psychological understanding, and external environment. (2) On the basis of the research data, empirical analysis and hypothesis testing are conducted using a variety of mathematical and statistical methods. The results indicate significant differences in the electricity consumption reduction behavior of heterogeneous urban residents in both public and private areas. Subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and knowledge of electricity conservation have significant direct influences on residents’ willingness to reduce their electricity consumption. Among these factors, subjective norms have the most significant impact, while the impact of attitude is negligible. Economic incentive policies have a significant positive regulatory effect on the relationship between “willingness (intention)” and “private area electricity consumption reduction behavior”. Full article

Conventional passive ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) have not seen substantial advances or functional improvements for decades, failing to meet the demands of many stakeholders, especially the pediatric population with neurological disorders. Our objective is to develop the first comfortable and unobtrusive powered AFO for children with cerebral palsy (CP), the DE-AFO. CP is the most diagnosed neuromotor disorder in the pediatric population. The standard of care for ankle control dysfunction associated with CP, however, is an unmechanized, bulky, and uncomfortable L-shaped conventional AFO. These passive orthoses constrain the ankle’s motion and often cause muscle disuse atrophy, skin damage, and adverse neural adaptations. While powered orthoses could enhance natural ankle motion, their reliance on bulky, noisy, and rigid actuators like DC motors limits their acceptability. Our innovation, the DE-AFO, emerged from insights gathered during customer discovery interviews with 185 stakeholders within the AFO ecosystem as part of the NSF I-Corps program. The DE-AFO is a biomimetic robot that employs artificial muscles made from an electro-active polymer called dielectric elastomers (DEs) to assist ankle movements in the sagittal planes. It incorporates a gait phase detection controller to synchronize the artificial muscles with natural gait cycles, mimicking the function of natural ankle muscles. This device is the first of its kind to utilize lightweight, compact, soft, and silent artificial muscles that contract longitudinally, addressing traditional actuated AFOs’ limitations by enhancing the orthosis’s natural feel, comfort, and acceptability. In this paper, we outline our design approach and describe the three main components of the DE-AFO: the artificial muscle technology, the finite state machine (the gait phase detection system), and its mechanical structure. To verify the feasibility of our design, we theoretically calculated if DE-AFO can provide the necessary ankle moment assistance for children with CP—aligning with moments observed in typically developing children. To this end, we calculated the ankle moment deficit in a child with CP when compared with the normative moment of seven typically developing children. Our results demonstrated that the DE-AFO can provide meaningful ankle moment assistance, providing up to 69% and 100% of the required assistive force during the pre-swing phase and swing period of gait, respectively. Full article

In the era of Innovation 3.0, more and more enterprises are working together to build an innovation ecosystem to achieve value creation. The various participants in the innovation ecosystem promote resource aggregation and integration through cross boundary collaboration, jointly creating the value of the ecosystem. Value co-creation has become the core goal pursued by the participants in the innovation ecosystem. As an innovative participant in the innovation ecosystem, it is particularly necessary for enterprises to explore the formation mechanism of value co-creation from the perspective of enterprise knowledge characteristics. This article analyzes the value co-creation mechanism of innovation ecosystems from the perspective of including internal knowledge bases and external relationships. Based on the dimension of knowledge element relationships, a theoretical model is constructed to investigate the impact of enterprise knowledge element relationships on value co-creation in innovation ecosystems and explore the mediating role of knowledge synergy and the moderating role of innovation ecosystem normativity. The relationships are modeled based on survey data collected from 427 Chinese companies, and multiple regression analysis and bootstrap methods are used to empirically test the hypotheses. The research results show that different dimensions of knowledge element relationships have different impacts on value co-creation. Knowledge element substitution negatively affects value co-creation, while knowledge combination diversity positively affects value co-creation. However, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between knowledge element complementarity and value co-creation. Knowledge synergy partially mediates the relationship between knowledge element relationships and value co-creation, and innovation ecosystem normativity has a two-stage moderating effect on the path from knowledge element relationships to knowledge synergy to value co-creation. This article enriches the research content of knowledge management in innovation ecosystems, guides enterprises in the innovation ecosystem to reasonably construct their own knowledge systems, and promotes the formation of innovation ecosystem norms, thus promoting the development of value co-creation activities. Full article

Under the fierce business competition and sustainable development pressure, the pattern of enterprise innovation has gradually changed from independent innovation to cooperative innovation. As a collection of multi-type innovation actors, the innovation ecosystem provides opportunities and platforms for cooperative innovation among government–industry–university–research institutions. While the present studies on innovation ecosystems are mostly from the perspective of the system level, few studies pay attention to the innovation mechanism of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs) in the innovation ecosystem. Therefore, this study takes SMMEs embedded in innovation ecosystems as research objects and explores the factors affecting green innovation. We constructed a theoretical model to explain the effect of innovation eco-embeddedness on green innovation performance based on ecosystem theory and network embeddedness theory; we then collected 363 samples of SMMEs in China through surveys and further tested the data empirically. The results show that the innovation eco-embeddedness (IEE) of SMMEs has a positive effect on their green innovation performance (GIP), and their green value co-creation practices (GVCCPs) partially mediate the relationship between IEE and GIP. Moreover, ecological norms (ENs) in the innovation ecosystem not only positively moderate the impact of IEE on GVCCPs but also positively moderate the mediating role of GVCCPs. This study enriches the relevant research on innovation ecosystems from the perspective of non-core enterprises and provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for SMMEs to implement green innovation practices and realize growth through innovation ecosystems. Full article

Over the last decade, various governments and supranational bodies have promoted the development of a circular bioeconomy (CBE) as a response to sustainability challenges. The transition towards a CBE requires the collaboration of different actors in the innovation (eco)system. With this conceptual paper, we apply a circular business model lens to address the research question: “What are the archetypical roles of consumers in business model innovations for a sustainable CBE?” We use a combination of complementary theories from the circular economy and bioeconomy literature, evolutionary innovation economics, sustainability transitions research, the business model literature, and the work on active consumers. Considering consumers’ agency as a continuum between the manufacturer-active paradigm and the consumer-active paradigm, we propose: (i) consumers in the manufacturer-active paradigm can actively influence circular business models with their purchase decision; (ii) consumers can act as lobbyists and influencers for circular business model innovation; (iii) in their different roles as customer, user, repairer, and reseller, consumers can incentivize organizations to adapt their business models to their needs; (iv) consumers can become key partners in the process of defining the normative orientation of the innovation paradigm for a CBE; (v) consumers can actively co-create value by means of co-ownership (e.g., through platform cooperatives). Full article

Given the extensive challenge of marine litter faced by coastal ecosystems, this article aims to illuminate an innovative form of environmental caretaking that builds upon a newly established concept of relational environmentalism. Relational environmentalism is a movement of individuals who purposefully interact with each other and with external bodies in a variety of dynamically developing ways to affect the perceptions, motivations and practical actions for the caretaking of endangered natural environments. As a theoretical contribution, the article conceptualizes eight categories of relational environmentalism: inviting, informing, coaching, norm enforcing, politicizing, mobilizing, intergeneralizing, and bridging. By means of a social media content analysis and primary data from the “Marine Environment Patrol” Facebook site, the article provides the first evidence on what relational environmentalism is and how it is institutionalized in the case of leisure- and tourism-based volunteering to collect marine litter. Furthermore, the article shows that successful campaigning and environmental patrolling in coastal recreation and tourism is a matter of building alliances and exchanging logics across a variety of boundaries and that it depends on a gradual intensification and diversification of communicative and mobilizing measures. Full article

Cities are key for sustainability and the radical systemic changes required to enable equitable human development within planetary boundaries. Their particular role in this regard has become the subject of an emerging and highly interdisciplinary scientific debate. Drawing on a qualitative literature review, this paper identifies and scrutinizes the principal fields involved, asking for their respective normative orientation, interdisciplinary constitution, theories and methods used, and empirical basis to provide orientations for future research. It recognizes four salient research epistemologies, each focusing on a distinct combination of drivers of change: (A) transforming urban metabolisms and political ecologies; (B) configuring urban innovation systems for green economies; (C) building adaptive urban communities and ecosystems; and (D) empowering urban grassroots niches and social innovation. The findings suggest that future research directed at cities and systemic change towards sustainability should (1) explore interrelations between the above epistemologies, using relational geography and governance theory as boundary areas; (2) conceive of cities as places shaped by and shaping interactions between multiple socio-technical and social-ecological systems; (3) focus on agency across systems and drivers of change, and develop corresponding approaches for intervention and experimentation; and (4) rebalance the empirical basis and methods employed, strengthening transdisciplinarity in particular. Full article

Addressing climate change and the collapse of ecosystems without threatening the economy, while simultaneously improving the well-being of all people and ensuring social justice and equality, seems to be the largest challenge in the history of mankind. So far, all the efforts to address growing environmental and human problems through technological solutions and policy measures have been largely outpaced by growing population and increasing consumption levels. Therefore, an understanding of the essential driving forces and complexities of consumption, and of how environmental impacts from rising consumption can be reduced, is becoming increasingly important. This understanding can be achieved by analyzing not only economic frameworks, political settings, business models, and technological innovations, but also social norms, psychological factors, and collective and individual decision-making processes. This article, Part I, provides a meta-analysis of the main political, economic, technological, and business drivers of contemporary consumption and offers a systematic discussion of the relevance of these factors for the instigation of change towards sustainable patterns and levels of consumption. The main conclusion from Part I and II is that a systems-thinking approach is required in order to understand how various political, technical, social, economic, and psychological drivers overlap and influence each other in creating our consumer society. Full article