IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v18y2009i7p432-452.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Subcultures and sustainability practices: the impact on understanding corporate sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Martina K. Linnenluecke
  • Sally V. Russell
  • Andrew Griffiths

Abstract

In this paper we present findings of how employees from a single organization understand corporate sustainability. Responses from 255 survey participants indicate (1) that differences exist in how employees understand corporate sustainability and (2) that these differences can be partially explained by the presence of organizational subcultures and by differences in employee awareness of the organization's sustainability practices. In particular, findings reveal that employees from a subculture with a stronger emphasis on hierarchical and bureaucratic values emphasize an economic understanding of corporate sustainability. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:18:y:2009:i:7:p:432-452
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.609
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.609
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.609?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. Nigel Roome, 1992. "Developing environmental management strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 11-24, March.
    2. Pratima Bansal, 2005. "Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 197-218, March.
    3. Ramus, Catherine A., 2002. "Encouraging innovative environmental actions: what companies and managers must do," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 151-164, July.
    4. Bill Hopwood & Mary Mellor & Geoff O'Brien, 2005. "Sustainable development: mapping different approaches," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 38-52.
    5. Jacqueline Cramer, 2005. "Company learning about corporate social responsibility," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(4), pages 255-266, July.
    6. Javier González‐Benito & Óscar González‐Benito, 2006. "A review of determinant factors of environmental proactivity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 87-102, March.
    7. Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 1911. "The Principles of Scientific Management," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number taylor1911.
    8. Niels Faber & René Jorna & Jo Van Engelen, 2005. "The Sustainability Of "Sustainability" — A Study Into The Conceptual Foundations Of The Notion Of "Sustainability"," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(01), pages 1-33.
    9. Thomas Dyllick & Kai Hockerts, 2002. "Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 130-141, March.
    10. Williams, Larry J. & Brown, Barbara K., 1994. "Method Variance in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Research: Effects on Correlations, Path Coefficients, and Hypothesis Testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 185-209, February.
    11. Jane E. Dutton & Liam Fahey & V. K. Narayanan, 1983. "Toward understanding strategic issue diagnosis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(4), pages 307-323, October.
    12. Stuart L. Hart & Gautam Ahuja, 1996. "Does It Pay To Be Green? An Empirical Examination Of The Relationship Between Emission Reduction And Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 30-37, March.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Renae A. Jones & Nerina L. Jimmieson & Andrew Griffiths, 2005. "The Impact of Organizational Culture and Reshaping Capabilities on Change Implementation Success: The Mediating Role of Readiness for Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 361-386, March.
    16. Geert Hofstede, 1998. "Identifying Organizational Subcultures: An Empirical Approach," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 1-12, January.
    17. 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.
    18. Shuangyu Xie & Kohji Hayase, 2007. "Corporate environmental performance evaluation: a measurement model and a new concept," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 148-168, February.
    19. Sanjay Sharma & Audun Ruud, 2003. "On the path to sustainability: integrating social dimensions into the research and practice of environmental management," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 205-214, July.
    20. William Young & Fiona Tilley, 2006. "Can businesses move beyond efficiency? The shift toward effectiveness and equity in the corporate sustainability debate," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 402-415, November.
    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. Linnenluecke, Martina K. & Griffiths, Andrew, 2010. "Corporate sustainability and organizational culture," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 357-366, October.
    2. Binh Do & Uyen Nguyen & Ninh Nguyen & Lester W. Johnson, 2019. "Exploring the Proactivity Levels and Drivers of Environmental Strategies Adopted by Vietnamese Seafood Export Processing Firms: A Qualitative Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-22, July.
    3. Fabien Martinez, 2014. "Corporate strategy and the environment: towards a four-dimensional compatibility model for fostering green management decisions," Post-Print hal-02887618, HAL.
    4. Anselm Schneider, 2015. "Reflexivity in Sustainability Accounting and Management: Transcending the Economic Focus of Corporate Sustainability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 525-536, March.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. A.D. Nuwan Gunarathne & Ki‐Hoon Lee & Pubudu K. Hitigala Kaluarachchilage, 2021. "Institutional pressures, environmental management strategy, and organizational performance: The role of environmental management accounting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 825-839, February.
    8. Qi Guoyou & Zeng Saixing & Tam Chiming & Yin Haitao & Zou Hailiang, 2013. "Stakeholders' Influences on Corporate Green Innovation Strategy: A Case Study of Manufacturing Firms in China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Ivana First & Deepali Sinha Khetriwal, 2010. "Exploring the relationship between environmental orientation and brand value: is there fire or only smoke?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 90-103, February.
    10. 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.
    11. Aurore Darmandieu & Concepción Garcés‐Ayerbe & Antoine Renucci & Pilar Rivera‐Torres, 2022. "How does it pay to be circular in production processes? Eco‐innovativeness and green jobs as moderators of a cost‐efficiency advantage in European small and medium enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1184-1203, March.
    12. Margaret Brunton & Gabriel Eweje & Nazim Taskin, 2017. "Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility to Internal Stakeholders: Walking the Walk or Just Talking the Talk?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 31-48, January.
    13. Øyvind Ihlen, 2009. "The oxymoron of ‘sustainable oil production’: the case of the Norwegian oil industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 53-63, January.
    14. Quang Le Van & Thanh Viet Nguyen & Manh Hung Nguyen, 2019. "Sustainable development and environmental policy: The engagement of stakeholders in green products in Vietnam," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 675-687, July.
    15. 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.
    16. Frank‐Martin Belz & Birte Schmidt‐Riediger, 2010. "Marketing strategies in the age of sustainable development: Evidence from the food industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(7), pages 401-416, November.
    17. Luo, Le & Tang, Qingliang, 2016. "Determinants of the Quality of Corporate Carbon Management Systems: An International Study," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 275-305.
    18. Tobias Hahn & Frank Figge, 2011. "Beyond the Bounded Instrumentality in Current Corporate Sustainability Research: Toward an Inclusive Notion of Profitability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 325-345, December.
    19. Joern H. Block & Marcus Wagner, 2014. "The Effect of Family Ownership on Different Dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Large US Firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(7), pages 475-492, November.
    20. Muñoz, Pablo & Dimov, Dimo, 2015. "The call of the whole in understanding the development of sustainable ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 632-654.

    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:18:y:2009:i:7:p:432-452. 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.