IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jmgtgv/v26y2022i1d10.1007_s10997-022-09624-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Systemic sustainability: toward an organic model of governance—a research note

Author

Listed:
  • Wafa Khlif

    (TBS Business School)

  • Lotfi Karoui

    (EM Normandie)

  • Coral Ingley

    (AUT)

Abstract

Increasing pressure for sustainable development has resulted in a multitude of reporting practices intended to provide more transparent information on progress toward greater sustainability. We argue that measurement as an operating mode has emerged as a magic solution for reversing the trend towards unsustainable development, but as tools the use of such metrics cannot alone be regarded as sufficient to achieve this goal. We assert that to enable reflection on coherent systems of governance much work is needed on the conceptualisation, determinants and consequences of sustainable development. To this end we urge a shift away from this existing mechanistic type of corporate and public governance and propose a systemic transformation to cooperative multi-level interactions in governance where local communities are empowered to act according to the natural rhythyms of the planet. Our framework for this transformation, which we term organic governance, departs from local actions carried out in isolation, moving towards a global vision integrated at the national and regional levels based on shared values drawn from deeper understandings of natural ecosystems at local levels. This approach requires continual adaptation at local levels where economy and policy making serve the social well-being of local communities. In this research note we set out the conceptual basis for our organic governance framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Wafa Khlif & Lotfi Karoui & Coral Ingley, 2022. "Systemic sustainability: toward an organic model of governance—a research note," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(1), pages 11-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:26:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10997-022-09624-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10997-022-09624-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10997-022-09624-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10997-022-09624-x?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6cbt691h0h8o9q5rf0apko0pda is not listed on IDEAS
    2. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    3. Finn Janning & Wafa Khlif & Coral Ingley, 2020. "The Illusion of Transparency in Corporate Governance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-35780-1, March.
    4. Magnus Frostenson & Sven Helin & Johan Sandström, 2011. "Organising Corporate Responsibility Communication Through Filtration: A Study of Web Communication Patterns in Swedish Retail," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 31-43, April.
    5. Edmund A. Spindler, 2013. "The History of Sustainability The Origins and Effects of a Popular Concept," Springer Books, in: Ian Jenkins & Roland Schröder (ed.), Sustainability in Tourism, edition 127, pages 9-31, Springer.
    6. Eric D. Galbraith & Samuel L. Jaccard & Thomas F. Pedersen & Daniel M. Sigman & Gerald H. Haug & Mea Cook & John R. Southon & Roger Francois, 2007. "Carbon dioxide release from the North Pacific abyss during the last deglaciation," Nature, Nature, vol. 449(7164), pages 890-893, October.
    7. Marsha Dickson & Molly Eckman, 2008. "Media Portrayal of Voluntary Public Reporting About Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: Does Coverage Encourage or Discourage Ethical Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(4), pages 725-743, December.
    8. Maria Halter & Maria Arruda & Ralph Halter, 2009. "Transparency to Reduce Corruption?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(3), pages 373-385, February.
    9. Fourcade, Marion & Healy, Kieran, 2013. "Classification situations: Life-chances in the neoliberal era," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 559-572.
    10. Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy, 2013. "Classification situations: Life-chances in the neoliberal era," Post-Print hal-03470535, HAL.
    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. Michele Bigoni & Zeila Occhipinti, 2023. "Early forms of accounting for sustainable development: The Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the XVI and XVII centuries," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 9-33.

    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. Alba Rocio Gutierrez Garzon & Pete Bettinger & Jacek Siry & Bin Mei & Jesse Abrams, 2019. "The Terms Foresters and Planners in the United States Use to Infer Sustainability in Forest Management Plans: A Survey Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Desiree Fields, 2022. "Automated landlord: Digital technologies and post-crisis financial accumulation," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(1), pages 160-181, February.
    3. Gilbert, Christine & Everett, Jeff & de Castro Casa Nova, Silvia Pereira, 2024. "Patriarchy, capitalism, and accounting: A herstory," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Ejiogu, Amanze & Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Ejiogu, Chibuzo, 2021. "Accounting for accounting’s role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England: A Bourdieusian perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Ivan Bozhikin & Nikolay Dentchev, 2018. "Discovering a Wilderness of Regulatory Mechanisms for Corporate Social Responsibility: Literature Review," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 145-174, June.
    6. Lauriane Mouysset & Luc Doyen & François Léger & Frédéric Jiguet & Tim G. Benton, 2018. "Operationalizing Sustainability as a Safe Policy Space," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-9, October.
    7. Vargha, Zsuzsanna, 2015. "Note from the editor: Insurance after markets," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 17(1), pages 2-5.
    8. Elliott, Rebecca, 2021. "Insurance and the temporality of climate ethics: accounting for climate change in US flood insurance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107925, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Alicia Eads & Laura Tach & Lauren Griffin, 2023. "Intra-household Financial Inequality, Gender Equality, and Marital Dissolution," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 373-393, June.
    10. Kracman, Kimberly, 2022. "Code as constitution: The negotiation of a uniform accounting code for U.S. railway corporations and the moral justification of stakeholder claims on wealth," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    11. Kornberger, Martin & Pflueger, Dane & Mouritsen, Jan, 2017. "Evaluative infrastructures: Accounting for platform organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 79-95.
    12. Waitkus, Nora & Savage, Mike & Toft, Maren, 2025. "Wealth and class analysis: exploitation, closure and exclusion," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 124534, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Nappert, Pier-Luc & Plante, Maude, 2023. "The assetization of baseball players: Instrumentalizing promise with signing bonuses and human capital contracts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    14. Anne Jensen & Helle Ørsted Nielsen & Duncan Russel, 2020. "Climate Policy in a Fragmented World—Transformative Governance Interactions at Multiple Levels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-8, November.
    15. Siler, Kyle & Larivière, Vincent, 2022. "Who games metrics and rankings? Institutional niches and journal impact factor inflation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    16. Baker, Darren T & Brewis, Deborah N, 2020. "The melancholic subject: A study of self-blame as a gendered and neoliberal psychic response to loss of the ‘perfect worker’," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4ff88coju39nk8b11b5ghfc1ff is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Dean Curran & Alan Smart, 2021. "Data-driven governance, smart urbanism and risk-class inequalities: Security and social credit in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(3), pages 487-506, February.
    19. Lacan, Laure & Lazarus, Jeanne, 2015. "A relationship and a practice: On the French sociology of credit," MaxPo Discussion Paper Series 15/1, Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo).
    20. Sendirella George & Erin Twyford & Farzana Aman Tanima, 2024. "Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Asylum Seekers: the Silencing of Accounting and Accountability in Offshore Detention Centres," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(4), pages 861-885, November.
    21. Olivier Godechot, 2019. "Conclusion: What finance manufactures," Post-Print hal-03393812, HAL.

    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:kap:jmgtgv:v:26:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10997-022-09624-x. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.