Systematic Literature Review: Inter-Reletedness of Innovation, Resilience and Sustainability - Major, Emerging Themes and Future Research Directions

Rationale Research has been using resilience, sustainability and innovation interchangeably, but there is a lack of research that would provide an insight into how they are related to each other. This systematic literature review thus investigates research on sustainability, innovation and resilience, how they are related to each other, and also identifies major, emerging themes and future research directions on these topics. Procedure We used Bibliometrix software to visually describe articles with the highest number of citations, to present the thematic evolution of the field and present a historical map. The triangulation and thematic groups were identified and compared by two independent researchers. Results Resilience is involved in processes, sustainability is concerned with the outcomes, while innovation represents a pathway to achieving both resilience and sustainability. Resilience can ensure the provision of the system functions in the face of shocks and stresses and sustainability can ensure the adequate performance of the system in general. Three major themes were identified, ‘socio-ecological systems’, ‘transformational innovation’ and ‘political governance’, as well as three emerging themes, ‘food security and agriculture’, ‘businesses and finance’ and ‘interconnected systems’. There is a need for longitudinal, multi-scale and interdisciplinary research that would explore various aspects of integrating these concepts. Conclusion There is a great overlap between the concepts of resilience, sustainability and innovation. Future research could study these concepts in relation to each other.