IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v29y2020i6p2668-2678.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of human sustainability in professional service firms. Evidence from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Maurizio Massaro
  • Carlo Bagnoli
  • Francesca Dal Mas

Abstract

Sustainability is a central topic for an increasing number of companies, as a part of their business strategies. Human sustainability, that is, preserving and improving the quality of human life, in other words, maintaining and advancing human capital, appears as one relevant issue in that context. Humans and human capital are the foremost resources for professional service firms. Their role in the international economic scenario will most likely depend on how they deal with human sustainability and the wellbeing of their people. In this perspective, the paper investigates the antecedents, and organisational implications, of human sustainability in such firms using a structural equation model (SEM) developed on 4,301 questionnaires filled by Italian Chartered Accountants. Findings shed new lights on some implications of human sustainability. Results show that human sustainability has a direct and significative impact on a firm's ability to innovate, fostering creativity and intellectual capital, thus being significant for corporate performance. As a practical implication, firms should accordingly shape their business strategies towards accounting for human sustainability aspects.

Suggested Citation

  • Maurizio Massaro & Carlo Bagnoli & Francesca Dal Mas, 2020. "The role of human sustainability in professional service firms. Evidence from Italy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2668-2678, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:29:y:2020:i:6:p:2668-2678
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2528
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2528
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.2528?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tiberio Daddi & Fabio Iraldo & Francesco Testa & Maria Rosa De Giacomo, 2019. "The influence of managerial satisfaction on corporate environmental performance and reputation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 15-24, January.
    2. Paul Lanoie, 2008. "When And Why Does It Pay To Be Green?," CIRANO Papers 2008n-02a, CIRANO.
    3. Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Collins G. Ntim & Ahmed A. Elamer & Qingjing Zhang, 2019. "A study of environmental policies and regulations, governance structures, and environmental performance: The role of female directors," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 206-220, January.
    4. Sher Zaman Khan & Qing Yang & Abdul Waheed, 2019. "Investment in intangible resources and capabilities spurs sustainable competitive advantage and firm performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 285-295, March.
    5. Bourke, Jane & Roper, Stephen & Love, James H., 2020. "Innovation in legal services: The practices that influence ideation and codification activities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 132-147.
    6. Christy Glass & Alison Cook & Alicia R. Ingersoll, 2016. "Do Women Leaders Promote Sustainability? Analyzing the Effect of Corporate Governance Composition on Environmental Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(7), pages 495-511, November.
    7. Kazunori Kobayashi & Gabriel Eweje & David Tappin, 2018. "Employee wellbeing and human sustainability: Perspectives of managers in large Japanese corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 801-810, November.
    8. Carlos Ramirez & Lindsay Stringfellow & Mairi Maclean, 2015. "Beyond segments in movement: a “small” agenda for research in the professions," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(8), pages 1341-1372, October.
    9. Jacob Hörisch & Matthew P. Johnson & Stefan Schaltegger, 2015. "Implementation of Sustainability Management and Company Size: A Knowledge‐Based View," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 765-779, December.
    10. Janine Maniora, 2018. "Mismanagement of Sustainability: What Business Strategy Makes the Difference? Empirical Evidence from the USA," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 931-947, November.
    11. Rick Edgeman & Jacob Eskildsen, 2014. "Modeling and Assessing Sustainable Enterprise Excellence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 173-187, March.
    12. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 2010. "Building Sustainable Organizations: The Human Factor," Research Papers 2017r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    13. Víctor Amor‐Esteban & Ma‐Purificación Galindo‐Villardón & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez & Fátima David, 2019. "An extension of the industrial corporate social responsibility practices index: New information for stakeholder engagement under a multivariate approach," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 127-140, January.
    14. Kianto, Aino & Sáenz, Josune & Aramburu, Nekane, 2017. "Knowledge-based human resource management practices, intellectual capital and innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 11-20.
    15. Zhongju Liao, 2018. "Institutional pressure, knowledge acquisition and a firm's environmental innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 849-857, November.
    16. Kennedy, Frances A. & Widener, Sally K., 2019. "Socialization mechanisms and goal congruence," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 32-49.
    17. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    18. Gabriel Eweje & Mina Sakaki, 2015. "CSR in Japanese Companies: Perspectives from Managers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(7), pages 678-687, November.
    19. Fabrizio Ferraro & Jeffrey Pfeffer & Robert I. Sutton, 2009. "How and Why Theories Matter: A Comment on Felin and Foss (2009)," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 669-675, June.
    20. Moxi Song & Morgan X. Yang & Kevin J. Zeng & Wenting Feng, 2020. "Green Knowledge Sharing, Stakeholder Pressure, Absorptive Capacity, and Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1517-1531, March.
    21. James Guthrie & Lee D. Parker, 2016. "Whither the accounting profession, accountants and accounting researchers? Commentary and projections," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(1), pages 2-10, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samantha Rae Powers & Michele W. Gazica & Karen K. Myers, 2022. "Emotional Communication and Human Sustainability in Professional Service Firms (PSFs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Jason Kobina Arku & Yunfei Shao & Shadrach Twumasi Ankrah, 2024. "Building a Hierarchical Enablers Framework for Service Business Model Innovation for Sustainable Performance: Evidence from Ghana’s Electricity Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Francesca Dal Mas & William Tucker & Maurizio Massaro & Carlo Bagnoli, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility in the retail business: A case study," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 223-232, January.
    4. Maurizio Massaro & Silvana Secinaro & Francesca Dal Mas & Valerio Brescia & Davide Calandra, 2021. "Industry 4.0 and circular economy: An exploratory analysis of academic and practitioners' perspectives," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1213-1231, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nurlan Orazalin & Mady Baydauletov, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility strategy and corporate environmental and social performance: The moderating role of board gender diversity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1664-1676, July.
    2. Bilal El TOUFAIL, 2018. "Consequences Of Organizational Stress On Workforce Productivity. Research On Strategies To Promote A Sustainable Workforce," Business Excellence and Management, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 8(2), pages 42-52, June.
    3. Farzana Riva & Solon Magrizos & Mohammad Rabiul Basher Rubel, 2021. "Investigating the link between managers' green knowledge and leadership style, and their firms' environmental performance: The mediation role of green creativity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3228-3240, November.
    4. Kamalesh Kumar & Giacomo Boesso & Rishtee Batra & Jun Yao, 2019. "Explicit and implicit corporate social responsibility: Differences in the approach to stakeholder engagement activities of U.S. and Japanese companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1121-1130, September.
    5. Sara Saggese & Fabrizia Sarto & Riccardo Viganò, 2021. "Do women directors contribute to R&D? The role of critical mass and expert power," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 593-623, June.
    6. James J. Cordeiro & Giorgia Profumo & Ilaria Tutore, 2020. "Board gender diversity and corporate environmental performance: The moderating role of family and dual‐class majority ownership structures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1127-1144, March.
    7. Sara De Masi & Agnieszka Słomka‐Gołębiowska & Claudio Becagli & Andrea Paci, 2021. "Toward sustainable corporate behavior: The effect of the critical mass of female directors on environmental, social, and governance disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1865-1878, May.
    8. Lu Qiu & Xiaowen Jie & Yanan Wang & Minjuan Zhao, 2020. "Green product innovation, green dynamic capability, and competitive advantage: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 146-165, January.
    9. Kazunori Kobayashi & Gabriel Eweje & David Tappin, 2018. "Employee wellbeing and human sustainability: Perspectives of managers in large Japanese corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 801-810, November.
    10. Isabell Tenner & Jacob Hörisch, 2021. "Diversity matters: the influence of gender diversity on the environmental orientation of entrepreneurial ventures," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(7), pages 1005-1023, September.
    11. Salome Zimmermann, 2019. "Same Same but Different: How and Why Banks Approach Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-20, April.
    12. Saleh F. A. Khatib & Dewi Fariha Abdullah & Ahmed A. Elamer & Raed Abueid, 2021. "Nudging toward diversity in the boardroom: A systematic literature review of board diversity of financial institutions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 985-1002, February.
    13. Claudio Nuber & Patrick Velte, 2021. "Board gender diversity and carbon emissions: European evidence on curvilinear relationships and critical mass," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1958-1992, May.
    14. Gabriel Eweje, 2020. "Proactive environmental and social strategies in a small‐ to medium‐sized company: A case study of a Japanese SME," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7), pages 2927-2938, November.
    15. Ajab Khan & H. Kent Baker, 2022. "How board diversity and ownership structure shape sustainable corporate performance," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3751-3770, December.
    16. Yaoxiaoxue Hong & Xianling Jiang & Beibei Shi & Chang Yu, 2022. "Do Fiscal Environmental Protection Expenditures Crowd Out Corporate Environmental Protection Investments?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    17. Joseph Amankwah‐Amoah & Johnny Syllias, 2020. "Can adopting ambitious environmental sustainability initiatives lead to business failures? An analytical framework," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 240-249, January.
    18. Samuel Drempetic & Christian Klein & Bernhard Zwergel, 2020. "The Influence of Firm Size on the ESG Score: Corporate Sustainability Ratings Under Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 333-360, November.
    19. Shubham Singhania & Jagvinder Singh & Deepti Aggrawal, 2023. "Gender diversity on board and corporate sustainability: a quantitative review based on bibliometric mapping," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 14(1), pages 267-286, February.
    20. Douglas A. Adu & Basil Al‐Najjar & Thitima Sitthipongpanich, 2022. "Executive compensation, environmental performance, and sustainable banking: The moderating effect of governance mechanisms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1439-1463, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:29:y:2020:i:6:p:2668-2678. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.