IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v30y2021i4p1610-1622.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How to serve sustainability performance in businesses? An appetizing recipe to link practices to performance in business sustainability research

Author

Listed:
  • Jean‐Pierre Imbrogiano
  • Elizabeth Nichols

Abstract

Recent critiques claim that business sustainability scholarship offers little evidence on how to effectively address business unsustainability. In this article, we demonstrate why this problem exists. Specifically, we argue that the literatures on internal practices of business sustainability, and on the sustainability performance of businesses, do not speak to each other and that explanatory models also fail to bridge a corresponding gap in the field. We argue for the development of a subfield of sustainability performance in businesses and explain the types of inquiries that should be developed. Finally, we suggest how scholars in the business sustainability field could contribute to the development of better understanding of sustainability performance in businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean‐Pierre Imbrogiano & Elizabeth Nichols, 2021. "How to serve sustainability performance in businesses? An appetizing recipe to link practices to performance in business sustainability research," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1610-1622, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:30:y:2021:i:4:p:1610-1622
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2697
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.2697?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. Sarah Birrell Ivory & R. Bradley MacKay, 2020. "Scaling sustainability from the organizational periphery to the strategic core: Towards a practice‐based framework of what practitioners “do”," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2058-2077, July.
    2. Angelo Riccaboni & Emilia Luisa Leone, 2010. "Implementing strategies through management control systems: the case of sustainability," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 59(2), pages 130-144, January.
    3. Sumit Lodhia & Kerry Jacobs, 2013. "The practice turn in environmental reporting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(4), pages 595-615, May.
    4. Cory Searcy, 2012. "Corporate Sustainability Performance Measurement Systems: A Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 239-253, May.
    5. Esther Albelda Pérez & Carmen Correa Ruiz & Francisco Carrasco Fenech, 2007. "Environmental management systems as an embedding mechanism: a research note," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(3), pages 403-422, June.
    6. Frederik Dahlmann & Layla Branicki & Stephen Brammer, 2017. "‘Carrots for Corporate Sustainability’: Impacts of Incentive Inclusiveness and Variety on Environmental Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1110-1131, December.
    7. Irene Eleonora Lisi, 2018. "Determinants and Performance Effects of Social Performance Measurement Systems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 225-251, September.
    8. Alan Muller & Ans Kolk, 2010. "Extrinsic and Intrinsic Drivers of Corporate Social Performance: Evidence from Foreign and Domestic Firms in Mexico," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 1-26, January.
    9. Bernd Siebenhüner & Marlen Arnold, 2007. "Organizational learning to manage sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(5), pages 339-353, July.
    10. Paul Shrivastava & Stuart Hart, 1995. "Creating sustainable corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 154-165, July.
    11. Gail Whiteman & Brian Walker & Paolo Perego, 2013. "Planetary Boundaries: Ecological Foundations for Corporate Sustainability," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 307-336, March.
    12. Alan Bradshaw & Detlev Zwick, 2016. "The Field of Business Sustainability and the Death Drive: A Radical Intervention," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 267-279, June.
    13. Wenlong Yuan & Yongjian Bao & Alain Verbeke, 2011. "Integrating CSR Initiatives in Business: An Organizing Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 75-92, June.
    14. Haitao Yin & Peter J. Schmeidler, 2009. "Why do standardized ISO 14001 environmental management systems lead to heterogeneous environmental outcomes?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 469-486, November.
    15. Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, 2001. "Managerial perceptions of corporate environmentalism: interpretations from industry and strategic implications for organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 489-513, June.
    16. Rupert J. Baumgartner & Daniela Ebner, 2010. "Corporate sustainability strategies: sustainability profiles and maturity levels," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 76-89.
    17. Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2009. "Organizational culture and leadership: Preconditions for the development of a sustainable corporation," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 102-113.
    18. Hörisch, Jacob & Ortas, Eduardo & Schaltegger, Stefan & Álvarez, Igor, 2015. "Environmental effects of sustainability management tools: An empirical analysis of large companies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 241-249.
    19. Adams, Carol A. & Frost, Geoffrey R., 2008. "Integrating sustainability reporting into management practices," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 288-302.
    20. Pratima Bansal, 2005. "Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 197-218, March.
    21. Linnenluecke, Martina K. & Griffiths, Andrew, 2010. "Corporate sustainability and organizational culture," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 357-366, October.
    22. Julia Wolf, 2011. "Sustainable Supply Chain Management Integration: A Qualitative Analysis of the German Manufacturing Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 221-235, August.
    23. F. Maon & A. Lindgreen & V. Swaen, 2010. "Organizational Stages and Cultural Phases: A Critical Review and a Consolidative Model of Corporate Social Responsibility Development," Post-Print halshs-00585660, HAL.
    24. Anders Bjørn & Michael Z. Hauschild, 2013. "Absolute versus Relative Environmental Sustainability," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 17(2), pages 321-332, April.
    25. Faizul Haque & Collins G Ntim, 2018. "Environmental Policy, Sustainable Development, Governance Mechanisms and Environmental Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 415-435, March.
    26. Donal Crilly & Pamela Sloan, 2014. "Autonomy or Control? Organizational Architecture and Corporate Attention to Stakeholders," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 339-355, April.
    27. Martina K. Linnenluecke & Sally V. Russell & Andrew Griffiths, 2009. "Subcultures and sustainability practices: the impact on understanding corporate sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 432-452, November.
    28. Olivier Boiral, 2016. "Accounting for the Unaccountable: Biodiversity Reporting and Impression Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(4), pages 751-768, June.
    29. Rajat Panwar & Erlend Nybakk & Eric Hansen & Jonatan Pinkse, 2017. "Does the Business Case Matter? The Effect of a Perceived Business Case on Small Firms’ Social Engagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 597-608, September.
    30. Pratima Bansal, 2003. "From Issues to Actions: The Importance of Individual Concerns and Organizational Values in Responding to Natural Environmental Issues," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(5), pages 510-527, October.
    31. Trevor Zink & Roland Geyer, 2017. "Circular Economy Rebound," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 593-602, June.
    32. Jeremy Galbreath, 2017. "The Impact of Board Structure on Corporate Social Responsibility: A Temporal View," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 358-370, March.
    33. David A. Waldman & Donald S. Siegel & Mansour Javidan, 2006. "Components of CEO Transformational Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(8), pages 1703-1725, December.
    34. Cristiana Parisi, 2013. "The impact of organisational alignment on the effectiveness of firms’ sustainability strategic performance measurement systems: an empirical analysis," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(1), pages 71-97, February.
    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. Elena D. Vaisman & Maria V. Podshivalova & Andrew Adewale Alola, 2022. "Examining the interaction of sustainable innovation activity and the life cycle of small high‐tech enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1018-1029, March.
    2. Rauter, Romana & Globocnik, Dietfried & Baumgartner, Rupert J., 2023. "The role of organizational controls to advance sustainability innovation performance," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Cátia da Silva & Ana Paula Barbosa‐Póvoa & Ana Carvalho, 2022. "Towards sustainable development: Green supply chain design and planning using monetization methods," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1369-1394, May.
    4. Ali Nawaz Khan & Naseer Abbas Khan, 2022. "The nexuses between transformational leadership and employee green organisational citizenship behaviour: Role of environmental attitude and green dedication," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 921-933, March.

    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. Witjes, Sjors & Vermeulen, Walter J.V. & Cramer, Jacqueline M., 2017. "Assessing Corporate Sustainability integration for corporate self-reflection," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 132-147.
    2. Lueg, Rainer & Radlach, Ronny, 2016. "Managing sustainable development with management control systems: A literature review," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 158-171.
    3. Rauter, Romana & Globocnik, Dietfried & Baumgartner, Rupert J., 2023. "The role of organizational controls to advance sustainability innovation performance," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    4. Mollie Painter & Sareh Pouryousefi & Sally Hibbert & Jo-Anna Russon, 2019. "Sharing Vocabularies: Towards Horizontal Alignment of Values-Driven Business Functions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 965-979, April.
    5. Thaís Vieira Nunhes & Merce Bernardo & Otávio José de Oliveira, 2020. "Rethinking the Way of Doing Business: A Reframe of Management Structures for Developing Corporate Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-32, February.
    6. Tobias Hahn & Jonatan Pinkse & Lutz Preuss & Frank Figge, 2015. "Tensions in Corporate Sustainability: Towards an Integrative Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 297-316, March.
    7. Anna Witek-Crabb, 2019. "CSR Maturity in Polish Listed Companies: A Qualitative Diagnosis Based on a Progression Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-28, March.
    8. Marcus Adam & Jochen Strähle & Matthias Freise, 2017. "The Interaction of Product-Service Systems (PSS) and Corporate Environmental Management (CEM): Can PSS Drive Today’s Fashion Industry Toward More Environmental Sustainability?," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 235-249, September.
    9. Jeremy Galbreath, 2016. "When do Board and Management Resources Complement Each Other? A Study of Effects on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 281-292, June.
    10. Tobias Hahn & Frank Figge & Jonatan Pinkse & Lutz Preuss, 2010. "Trade‐offs in corporate sustainability: you can't have your cake and eat it," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 217-229, May.
    11. Catherine Liston-Heyes & Diego Alfonso Vazquez Brust, 2016. "Environmental Protection in Environmentally Reactive Firms: Lessons from Corporate Argentina," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 361-379, May.
    12. Jay Joseph & Marc Orlitzky & Bruce Gurd & Helen Borland & Adam Lindgreen, 2019. "Can business‐oriented managers be effective leaders for corporate sustainability? A study of integrative and instrumental logics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 339-352, February.
    13. Tiina Onkila & Marjo Siltaoja, 2017. "One Rule to Rule Them All? Organisational Sensemaking of Corporate Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 5-20, August.
    14. Sarah Birrell Ivory & R. Bradley MacKay, 2020. "Scaling sustainability from the organizational periphery to the strategic core: Towards a practice‐based framework of what practitioners “do”," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2058-2077, July.
    15. Tobias Hahn & Frank Figge & Jonatan Pinkse & Lutz Preuss, 2018. "A Paradox Perspective on Corporate Sustainability: Descriptive, Instrumental, and Normative Aspects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 235-248, March.
    16. Tobias Hahn & Frank Figge, 2018. "Why Architecture Does Not Matter: On the Fallacy of Sustainability Balanced Scorecards," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 919-935, July.
    17. Fiaz Ahmad Sulehri & Saba Sharif, 2022. "The Impact of Firm Sustainability on Firm Growth: Evidence from USA," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, August.
    18. Catherine Le Roux & Marius Pretorius, 2016. "Conceptualizing the Limiting Issues Inhibiting Sustainability Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-22, April.
    19. Hsueh, Che-Fu, 2014. "Improving corporate social responsibility in a supply chain through a new revenue sharing contract," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 214-222.
    20. Nurisyal Muhamad & Sofiah Md Auzair & Amizawati Mohd Amir & Md Daud Ismail, 2016. "Measuring Sustainability Performance Measurement System," EuroEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 3(12), pages 182-199, JUNE.

    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:30:y:2021:i:4:p:1610-1622. 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.