IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2017i1p21-d124057.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Myopia Archetypes Lead to Non-Sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Piero Mella

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

  • Michela Pellicelli

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

Abstract

Much of the literature on sustainability has tried to define the “virtuous behaviour” of “agents” (man and his social and economic organizations) so that it respects the “sustainability constraint.” This paper provides a “mirror-image” approach, based on the idea that it is above all necessary to understand why men and organizations tend to develop, at times unconsciously and dishonestly, damaging behaviour that turns into non-sustainability. In other words, to orient man toward sustainable behaviour it is indispensable to understand the “reasons” for the behaviour that produces non-sustainable effects. Regarding sustainability problems, we shall introduce the hypothesis that non-sustainable behaviour is not irrational in an absolute sense but derives from the action of three connected “behavioural archetypes” that accurately describe the “natural” behaviour of individuals in pursuing their aims: behaving in a way that will provide evident short-term advantages, both individual and local, while ignoring the disadvantages and harm such behaviour produces in the long run, at the collective and global level. To solve the problem, we shall try to identify the “levers” that weaken the archetypes and reverse their effects, thereby requiring sacrifices which are unacceptable to some. The paper presents four emblematic cases of non-sustainable behaviour and demonstrates that sustainability must become a fundamental strategic driver.

Suggested Citation

  • Piero Mella & Michela Pellicelli, 2017. "How Myopia Archetypes Lead to Non-Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2017:i:1:p:21-:d:124057
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/1/21/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/1/21/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808, Decembrie.
    2. Timothy M. Maher & Seth D. Baum, 2013. "Adaptation to and Recovery from Global Catastrophe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Elena-Mădălina Vătămănescu & Patrizia Gazzola & Violeta Mihaela Dincă & Roberta Pezzetti, 2017. "Mapping Entrepreneurs’ Orientation towards Sustainability in Interaction versus Network Marketing Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Frank Figge & Tobias Hahn & Stefan Schaltegger & Marcus Wagner, 2002. "The Sustainability Balanced Scorecard – linking sustainability management to business strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(5), pages 269-284, September.
    5. Barry Richmond, 1993. "Systems thinking: Critical thinking skills for the 1990s and beyond," System Dynamics Review, System Dynamics Society, vol. 9(2), pages 113-133, June.
    6. Patrizia Gazzola & Gianluca Colombo & Roberta Pezzetti & Luminița Nicolescu, 2017. "Consumer Empowerment in the Digital Economy: Availing Sustainable Purchasing Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-19, April.
    7. S. J. Fowler & C. Hope, 2007. "Incorporating sustainable business practices into company strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 26-38, January.
    8. Seelos, Christian & Mair, Johanna, 2005. "Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 241-246.
    9. Costanza, Robert & Patten, Bernard C., 1995. "Defining and predicting sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 193-196, December.
    10. Stefan Schaltegger, 2011. "Sustainability as a driver for corporate economic success," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 33(1), pages 15-28, April.
    11. 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.
    12. Graham Hubbard, 2009. "Measuring organizational performance: beyond the triple bottom line," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 177-191, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. Morgan X. Yang & Ji Li & Irina Y. Yu & Kevin J. Zeng & Jian‐Min (James) Sun, 2019. "Environmentally sustainable or economically sustainable? The effect of Chinese manufacturing firms' corporate sustainable strategy on their green performances," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 989-997, September.
    3. Robert Huber & Bernhard Hirsch, 2017. "Behavioral Effects of Sustainability‐Oriented Incentive Systems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 163-181, February.
    4. Stefan Schaltegger & Roger Burritt & Dimitar Zvezdov & Jacob Hörisch & Joanne Tingey-Holyoak, 2015. "Management Roles and Sustainability Information. Exploring Corporate Practice," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 25(4), pages 328-345, December.
    5. Schöll, Michaela, 2017. "Three Essays on Sustainable Supply Chain Management – Towards Sustainable Supplier Selection and Sustainable Sourcing," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 172463, March.
    6. Giacomo Fabietti & Francesca Trovarelli, 2016. "The role of Eco-control in the implementation of Sustainable Business Models," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(3), pages 141-172.
    7. Suparak Suriyankietkaew & Phallapa Petison, 2019. "A Retrospective and Foresight: Bibliometric Review of International Research on Strategic Management for Sustainability, 1991–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, December.
    8. Florina Pînzaru & Paul Dobrescu & Alexandra Vițelar & Ion Moldoveanu & Adina Săniuță, 2023. "Linking Sustainability-Driven Factors and Online Knowledge Sharing in Business: A PLS-SEM Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    9. 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.
    10. Rupert J. Baumgartner & Thomas Winter, 2014. "The Sustainability Manager: A Tool for Education and Training on Sustainability Management," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(3), pages 167-174, May.
    11. Friederike Neugebauer & Frank Figge & Tobias Hahn, 2016. "Planned or Emergent Strategy Making? Exploring the Formation of Corporate Sustainability Strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 323-336, July.
    12. Steve Elliot, 2013. "A Transdisciplinary Exploratory Model of Corporate Responses to the Challenges of Environmental Sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 269-282, May.
    13. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    14. Catherine Le Roux & Marius Pretorius, 2016. "Conceptualizing the Limiting Issues Inhibiting Sustainability Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-22, April.
    15. 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.
    16. Viju Raghupathi & Jie Ren & Wullianallur Raghupathi, 2020. "Identifying Corporate Sustainability Issues by Analyzing Shareholder Resolutions: A Machine-Learning Text Analytics Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, June.
    17. Seelos, Christian & Mair, Johanna, 2005. "Sustainable development: How social entrepreneurs make it happen," IESE Research Papers D/611, IESE Business School.
    18. María Luisa Pajuelo Moreno & Teresa Duarte-Atoche, 2019. "Relationship between Sustainable Disclosure and Performance—An Extension of Ullmann’s Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-33, August.
    19. Carolina Villamil & Sophie Hallstedt, 2021. "Sustainabilty integration in product portfolio for sustainable development: Findings from the industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 388-403, January.
    20. Daniel Kiel & Julian M. Müller & Christian Arnold & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2017. "Sustainable Industrial Value Creation: Benefits And Challenges Of Industry 4.0," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(08), pages 1-34, December.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2017:i:1:p:21-:d:124057. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.