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.