Abstract:

Abstract
Micro-firms increasingly face complex and uncertain conditions driven by carbon emissions and resource depletion, intensifying the need for collaboration in sustainability-oriented innovation. While collaboration with external actors enhances SMEs’ sustainability innovation capacity, little is known about how micro-firms work with research institutes to build such capabilities. The knowledge processes underlying sustainability-oriented innovation, which depend on owner-managers’ cognitive logics, remain underexplored.
Drawing on qualitative data from ten micro-firms, this study develops a conceptual framework illustrating how effectual, causal, and hybrid decision-making logics shape knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation practices in SOI. The findings show that effectuation fosters experimentation and radical innovation, causation supports structured and incremental innovation, and hybrid logic balances exploration and exploitation, thereby enabling integrated sustainability outcomes.
This research contributes by linking managerial cognitive logics to absorptive capacity and SOI outcomes, offering practical insights for SMEs seeking to strengthen innovation capabilities under conditions of uncertainty.

Keywords: Micro-firms, sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI), micro-firm–research institute collaboration, decision-making logic, and absorptive capacity

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Sustainable and Responsible Business

Keywords: responsible business;leadership/management development;technology/digital business);case study;interviews

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Dr. Wasim Ahmed

Biography