Organizational use of ecosystem service approaches: A critique from a systems theory perspective

Although corporate sustainability theory is well established, there is limited research on the use and understanding of the ecosystem service (ES) approaches based on an advanced conceptualization of the environment in organizational practice. This article analyzes the use of ES approaches in organizations using a system theory lens, conducting empirical research on the contribution of ES approaches to corporate environmental management. Drawing from 30 semistructured interviews with ES practitioners from private, policy, and third sector organizations, we find that ES approaches provide practitioners with an advanced understanding of the environment as a system, the interconnections between the organization and the environment, and a better awareness of temporal and physical attributes of the environment. Overemphasis on ecological systems, limited acknowledgment of the nesting of the social system within the ecological system, and limited detailed practitioner knowledge are barriers for advancing the use of the ES approaches in corporate sustainability practice.