Sustainable Innovation in the Financial Sector during the Corona Crisis: How Discontinuity Affects Sustainable Innovation, Sustainable Entrepreneurial Orientation, and Absorptive Capacity

The corona crisis caused discontinuity within the financial sector, which has further increased the importance of innovation for sustainability and the capability to manage discontinuity. The aim of this research is to investigate how the corona crisis affected the relationship between sustainability-oriented innovation, sustainable entrepreneurial orientation, and absorptive capacity in the financial sector. Empirical research was carried out in the Dutch financial sector during the corona crisis by means of semi-structured interviews with senior managers, semi-structured group interviews with employees, observations, and documentation. The results of this qualitative exploratory case-study research show that the corona crisis has caused discontinuity for the case organization, which has led to an increase in uncertainty and a decrease in risk appetite. However, the degree of proactivity, innovativeness, knowledge adaptation, knowledge acquisition, knowledge exploitation, and knowledge transformation have also increased as a result of the corona crisis. Therefore, the case organization was able to manage discontinuity and realize more sustainability-oriented innovation. Findings seem to indicate that for the case organization, the corona crisis had a predominantly positive effect on (the relationship between) sustainability-oriented innovation, sustainable entrepreneurial orientation, and absorptive capacity. This research has several theoretical and practical implications and contains recommendations for further research and practice.