Exploring the Research Regarding Frugal Innovation and Business Sustainability through Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Nowadays, innovation is valued as being of utmost significance when evaluating measures of sustainable development and performance constructs. The current research develops investigations into the field of frugal innovation (FI) and how this process can contribute to business sustainability. This study performs a comprehensive evaluation of scientific production through the quantitative method of bibliometric analysis to facilitate our understanding of the current structure of studies and to highlight future research paths on FI and business sustainability. The paper maps the literature by narrowing its research topics and identifying certain patterns. Using the Web of Science database (WoS) on a sample of 2072 documents, descriptive and performance analyses were conducted. The VOSviewer software was used to perform the science mapping of the conceptual, intellectual, and social structure that provides scholars with a quantified and graphic representation of the FI and business sustainability field. The trend towards the analysis of business sustainability and consumer behaviour in the context of FI is highlighted. Annual scientific production and citation analysis reveal significant growth in international interest and scientific production, indicating an increasing line of inquiry for this topic at the start of the twenty-first century. The prominent scholars in the field are of European origin, while the highly active countries in the subject of FI and business sustainability are the USA, Germany, England, the Netherlands, and India, with major collaborations across the globe. This paper covers the limits identified by previous scholars by detailing the knowledge base and by using science mapping tools to document the structure of the literature; distinguish key journals, articles, and authors; and highlight new emerging topics of research.