Identifying and Prioritizing Factors of the Formation of Sustainable Innovation in the Textile Industry

Considering the increasing expansion of industrial units nowadays and creating multiple problems for the environment and the community, it is essential to guide the industry toward innovation at production processes, service of management, manufacturing processes and business practices while maintaining the economic, social and environmental values. The main objective of this research is introducing the importance of sustainable innovation and development of the textile industry of the country, exploring solutions, identifying and prioritizing the factors affecting the development of sustainable innovation in this industry. This survey according to the purpose is operational, which is conducted based on literature review and field study. After collecting the factors involved in the emergence of sustainable innovation from the literature and interviews with experts and specialists; the contributing factors were adjusted in the form of six main components. In this research in order to test assumptions the Pearson correlation and SPSS software were used and in order to check the suitability of the model and the importance of each factor, the confirmatory factor analysis method and LISREL software were used. Therefore the influential factors according to their priorities are the government political interventions, awareness and social demands, social commitment of the industry, factors within the organization, development of technology and sustainability of the supply chain; also three sub-factors of: creating the networks and strategic alliances with suppliers and distributors, transparent and efficient mechanisms for tracking social demands and transforming them into rules and related regulations, and the increase of people's tendency in textile products with natural and recyclable fibers, were known as the most important sub-criteria for the formation of sustainable innovation in this industry.