Factors affecting sustainable process technology adoption: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Nowadays, a challenge facing firms and governments is how to realize sustainable development goals. Sustainable technology, as an effective means to achieve sustainable development, recently gained much interest both from society and academia. Prior research investigated the impact of several factors on the adoption of sustainable technology, which gives us a basic understanding of firms' adoption behaviours. However, the research results scattered across different yields, making the knowledge on sustainable technology adoption is fragmented. Relying on a systematic review of both quantitative and qualitative studies, this article distinguishes different types of sustainable process technology and discusses factors influencing the adoption. Several reasons may lead to the different impacts of specific factors between studies, such as firm size, ownership, technology type, interrelations with other factors and time difference. Directions for future research are provided.