The Application of Network Analysis for Green R&D Indicators (Case Study of the Home Appliance Industry)

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to develop a model for green research and development (R&D) in the path towards sustainable development within the home appliance industry. This research is applied in nature and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection method. Initially, through a literature review, 30 factors were identified as indicators for green development and formulation and were categorized into five dimensions: green management, product performance and stakeholders, internal environment management, green innovation, and energy and resource consumption management. To screen and validate the factors extracted from the literature, the fuzzy Delphi method was used by surveying 15 selected experts through purposive sampling, which led to the identification of 25 components across the five dimensions. Subsequently, the importance of each criterion and sub-criterion was determined based on the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method, using a pairwise comparison questionnaire with Super Decisions software. The reliability of the tool was confirmed with a consistency ratio below 0.1. Based on the findings, green management, with a weight of (0.261), has the highest priority among the other criteria. Similarly, the product performance and stakeholders criterion (0.220) ranks second, internal environment management (0.202) ranks third, green innovation with a weight of (0.191) ranks fourth, and energy and resource consumption management with a weight of (0.124) ranks fifth. According to this ranking, it can be concluded that factors related to green management hold the greatest importance in green R&D indicators.