Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen

Type: Doctoraat
Ingangsdatum: 01/01/2006
Einddatum: 31/12/2009
Betrokkenen: Elli Verhulst, prof. dr. Henri Masson, prof. dr. Casper Boks, dr. Karine Van Doorsselaer

Abstract:
Sustainable design is steadily becoming a well-known concept within the field of product innovation. Several drivers such as the depletion of resources, the rising prices of materials, etc., make the awareness for sustainability issues rise at the government-, market-, and business level. Companies that develop, produce, and commercialise innovative products have a prominent role in the incorporation of sustainability in the product development process. In order to implement sustainability criteria in industrial design, several tools and methods are available. However, literature has described a gap between the theoretical foundations of sustainable design and its industrial implementation.
Recent research has observed and identified several success factors as well as obstacles for this type of integration process. These include factors that are closely related to the structure of the organisation and factors, which are more linked to personal aspects. Only a few studies emphasise the importance of these human aspects in sustainable design. However, in adjacent fields such as change management, this ‘human side’ of the integration process is considered an important issue.
In this doctoral research project the subject of study is the influence of the human factors on the implementation of sustainable design criteria in product innovation businesses. Factors that affect the change process are assembled from three research fields: product development, sustainable design, and change management.
From the literature review and preliminary interviews, a theoretical model that aims to explain the role of human factors in sustainable design implementation is composed. The validity of this model will be verified in practice by means of case studies. The information from the cases will eventually enable improvements of the initial model. In addition, this research may ultimately lead to prescriptive insights for successful implementation of sustainable design criteria and offer practical guidelines to companies that are in an initial stage of such a challenging process.