IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i12p5031-d373797.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in Sustainability Priorities in Organisations due to the COVID-19 Outbreak: Averting Environmental Rebound Effects on Society

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Barreiro-Gen

    (Center for Logistics and Innovative Production, Department of Industrial Development, IT and Land Management, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Rodrigo Lozano

    (Center for Logistics and Innovative Production, Department of Industrial Development, IT and Land Management, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden
    Organisational Sustainability Ltd., Cardiff CF 116EQ, UK)

  • Afnan Zafar

    (Center for Logistics and Innovative Production, Department of Industrial Development, IT and Land Management, University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected societies and organisations in an unprecedented way. This has resulted in negative impacts to economic and social issues, but it is a “blessing in disguise” for environmental issues. This paper analyses how the outbreak has affected organisations’ sustainability priorities. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, such priorities were on the economic dimension followed by the environmental and social dimensions. A survey was sent to 11,657 organisations to analyse such changes, with a 5.60% response rate. The results show that for organisations, the main priority is now on the social dimension, followed by the economic one; however, the environmental dimension has suffered a negative impact in prioritisation, regardless of organisation type, country where they are based, organisation size, or the time they have been working on sustainability. We are currently facing an environmental conundrum, where air quality has improved and pollution has decreased in societies, but organisations are starting to neglect such environmental issues. The COVID-19 outbreak is an opportunity for organisations to better contribute to sustainability by ensuring that the efforts that have been undertaken in the last three decades are not forgotten, and that societies and organisations are better coupled to face such crises and avert rebound effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Barreiro-Gen & Rodrigo Lozano & Afnan Zafar, 2020. "Changes in Sustainability Priorities in Organisations due to the COVID-19 Outbreak: Averting Environmental Rebound Effects on Society," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5031-:d:373797
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5031/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5031/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tom Thomas & Eric Lamm, 2012. "Legitimacy and Organizational Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 191-203, October.
    2. Sumit Lodhia & Kerry Jacobs & Yoon Jin Park, 2012. "Driving Public Sector Environmental Reporting," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 631-647, June.
    3. James Guthrie & Federica Farneti, 2008. "GRI Sustainability Reporting by Australian Public Sector Organizations," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 361-366, December.
    4. Alamo Alexandre da Silva Batista & Antonio Carlos de Francisco, 2018. "Organizational Sustainability Practices: A Study of the Firms Listed by the Corporate Sustainability Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Dra. Belén Fernández-Feijóo Souto, 2009. "Crisis and Corporate Social Responsibility: Threat or Opportunity?," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Kavala Campus, Greece, vol. 2(1), pages 36-50, June.
    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. Tworek Katarzyna, 2023. "IT reliability as a source of sustainability for organisations operating during the COVID-19 pandemic," Engineering Management in Production and Services, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 29-40, March.
    2. Ana Clara Borrego & Francisco Alegria Carreira & Pedro Pardal & Rute Abreu, 2022. "Social Responsibility and SDG 8 during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Chartered Accountants in Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    3. Mariana Madruga de Brito & Danny Otto & Christian Kuhlicke, 2021. "Tracking Topics and Frames Regarding Sustainability Transformations during the Onset of the COVID-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Keiko Sasaki & Tomohiro Ichinose, 2022. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the General Public in Urban and Rural Areas in Southern Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    5. El Baz, Jamal & Ruel, Salomée & Jebli, Fedwa, 2023. "Harnessing supply chain resilience and social performance through safety and health practices in the COVID-19 era: An investigation of normative pressures and adoption timing's role," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    6. Swagata Chakraborty & Amrut Sadachar, 2023. "Did Anything Good Come Out of the Pandemic? COVID-19-Stress Induced Self-Regulatory Sustainable Apparel Consumption among the Millennials in the U.S," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Peter Hemmings & Michael Mulheron & Richard J. Murphy & Matt Prescott, 2021. "Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 Disruption on the Decarbonisation Agenda at Airports: Grounded or Ready for Take-Off?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-25, November.
    8. Rodrigo Lozano, 2023. "Analysing organisations' engagement with and impacts to sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5721-5733, December.
    9. Dahlke, Johannes & Bogner, Kristina & Becker, Maike & Schlaile, Michael P. & Pyka, Andreas & Ebersberger, Bernd, 2021. "Crisis-driven innovation and fundamental human needs: A typological framework of rapid-response COVID-19 innovations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    10. Dongyong Zhang & Mengge Hao & Stephen Morse, 2020. "Is Environmental Sustainability Taking a Backseat in China after COVID-19? The Perspective of Business Managers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-24, December.
    11. Hermundsdottir, Fanny & Haneberg, Dag Håkon & Aspelund, Arild, 2022. "Analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on environmental innovations in manufacturing firms," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Simona Tondelli & Ebrahim Farhadi & Bahareh Akbari Monfared & Mehdi Ataeian & Hossein Tahmasebi Moghaddam & Marco Dettori & Lucia Saganeiti & Beniamino Murgante, 2022. "Air Quality and Environmental Effects Due to COVID-19 in Tehran, Iran: Lessons for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-28, November.
    13. Xiaoyan Liang & Xiwei Zhang & Renee Paulet & Leven Jianwen Zheng, 2022. "A Literature Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Effect on Sustainable HRM," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-26, 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. Rodrigo Lozano, 2018. "Proposing a Definition and a Framework of Organisational Sustainability: A Review of Efforts and a Survey of Approaches to Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Aurelio Tommasetti & Riccardo Mussari & Gennaro Maione & Daniela Sorrentino, 2020. "Sustainability Accounting and Reporting in the Public Sector: Towards Public Value Co-Creation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Rodrigo Lozano & Maria Barreiro‐Gen, 2023. "Civil society organisations as agents for societal change: Football clubs' engagement with sustainability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 820-828, March.
    4. Chi-Yen Yin & Hsiao-Hsin Chang, 2022. "What Is the Link between Strategic Innovation and Organizational Sustainability? Historical Review and Bibliometric Analytics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-23, June.
    5. Rodrigo Lozano, 2023. "Analysing organisations' engagement with and impacts to sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5721-5733, December.
    6. Davide Giacomini & Paola Zola & Diego Paredi & Mario Mazzoleni, 2020. "Environmental disclosure and stakeholder engagement via social media: State of the art and potential in public utilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1552-1564, July.
    7. Inmaculada Buendía-Martínez & Inmaculada Carrasco Monteagudo, 2020. "The Role of CSR on Social Entrepreneurship: An International Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    8. Dorothea GREILING & Birgit GRUB, 2015. "Towards Citizen Accountability Of Local Public Enterprises," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(4), pages 641-655, December.
    9. Swiatkiewicz Olgierd, 2017. "Linking Csr To Strategy: A Practical View," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 299-316, October.
    10. Enrico Bracci & Mouhcine Tallaki, 2013. "Socio-environmental reporting trends in the Italian local government: Thrive or wither?," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(2), pages 27-46.
    11. David Carassus & Damien Gardey & Christophe Maurel, 2011. "Les démarches locales de performance publique face à la LOLF : mimétisme ou innovation ?," Post-Print hal-02431106, HAL.
    12. Makomborero Bure & Robertson K. Tengeh, 2019. "Implementation of internal controls and the sustainability of SMEs in Harare in Zimbabwe," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 7(1), pages 201-218, September.
    13. Giorgia Miotto & Marc Polo López & Josep Rom Rodríguez, 2019. "Gender Equality and UN Sustainable Development Goals: Priorities and Correlations in the Top Business Schools’ Communication and Legitimation Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    14. Toshiaki Hiromitsu & Yoko Kitakaji & Keishiro Hara & Tatsuyoshi Saijo, 2021. "What Do People Say When They Become “Future People”?―Positioning Imaginary Future Generations (IFGs) in General Rules for Good Decision-Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-27, June.
    15. Zanellato Gianluca, 2021. "Quality of Information Disclosed in Integrated Reports, in the Extracting Sector: Insights from Europe," Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Oeconomica, Sciendo, vol. 66(3), pages 1-20, December.
    16. Fabricio Carlos Schmidt & Roselaine Ruviaro Zanini & André Luis Korzenowski & Reno Schmidt Junior & Karl Benchimol Xavier do Nascimento, 2018. "Evaluation of Sustainability Practices in Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises in Southern Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-11, July.
    17. Lai Ken Tan & Matthew Egan, 2018. "The Public Accountability Value of a Triple Bottom Line Approach to Performance Reporting in the Water Sector," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(2), pages 235-250, June.
    18. Hanene Ezzine, 2018. "Corporate governance and social norms during financial crisis: evidence from France and Saudi Arabia," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(3), pages 707-748, September.
    19. Liliana SIMIONESCU & Dalina DUMITRESCU, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility And Financial Crisis," Journal of Public Administration, Finance and Law, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 0(Special i), pages 31-37, September.
    20. Sara Giovanna Mauro & Lino Cinquini & Elena Simonini & Andrea Tenucci, 2020. "Moving from Social and Sustainability Reporting to Integrated Reporting: Exploring the Potential of Italian Public-Funded Universities’ Reports," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-19, April.

    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:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5031-:d:373797. 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.