IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v190y2025ics0148296325000554.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable development at a temporal crossroads: Learning from the past while focusing on the future

Author

Listed:
  • Bansal, Pratima (Tima)
  • Lee, Ju Young
  • Mascena, Alice
  • Rüegger, Stephanie
  • Miller, Elizabeth M.

Abstract

Sustainable development offers the promise of economic prosperity into the future by recognizing the importance of sustaining the regenerative capacity of natural resources. Yet, current organizational practices are damaging the natural environment at such a rapid rate that economic development cannot be sustained. In response, many organizations have set targets to reduce their environmental and social impacts to past levels, aiming to restore historical baselines. While learning from the past is essential, we illustrate that an exclusive focus on the past for future actions can actually hamper progress toward sustainability. Instead, we advocate for a future-focused approach that inspires innovative new practices, with specific recommendations for business scholarship.

Suggested Citation

  • Bansal, Pratima (Tima) & Lee, Ju Young & Mascena, Alice & Rüegger, Stephanie & Miller, Elizabeth M., 2025. "Sustainable development at a temporal crossroads: Learning from the past while focusing on the future," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:190:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325000554
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115232
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296325000554
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115232?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. Ju Young Lee & Pratima Bansal & Alice Mascena Barbosa, 2023. "Seeing Beyond the Here and Now: How Corporate Purpose Combats Corporate Myopia," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 302-310, June.
    2. Kuhmonen, Tuomas, 2017. "Exposing the attractors of evolving complex adaptive systems by utilising futures images: Milestones of the food sustainability journey," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 214-225.
    3. Wu, Cindy & McMullen, Jeffery S. & Neubert, Mitchell J. & Yi, Xiang, 2008. "The influence of leader regulatory focus on employee creativity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 587-602, September.
    4. Brockner, Joel & Higgins, E. Tory, 2001. "Regulatory Focus Theory: Implications for the Study of Emotions at Work," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 35-66, September.
    5. Schwanen, Tim & Banister, David & Anable, Jillian, 2011. "Scientific research about climate change mitigation in transport: A critical review," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 993-1006.
    6. Szabó, S. & Bódis, K. & Huld, T. & Moner-Girona, M., 2013. "Sustainable energy planning: Leapfrogging the energy poverty gap in Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 500-509.
    7. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2013. "Energy policymaking in Denmark: Implications for global energy security and sustainability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 829-839.
    8. Johan Rockström & Joyeeta Gupta & Dahe Qin & Steven J. Lade & Jesse F. Abrams & Lauren S. Andersen & David I. Armstrong McKay & Xuemei Bai & Govindasamy Bala & Stuart E. Bunn & Daniel Ciobanu & Fabric, 2023. "Safe and just Earth system boundaries," Nature, Nature, vol. 619(7968), pages 102-111, July.
    9. Anita M. McGahan & Leandro S. Pongeluppe, 2023. "There Is No Planet B: Aligning Stakeholder Interests to Preserve the Amazon Rainforest," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(12), pages 7860-7881, December.
    10. Pesch, Udo, 2015. "Tracing discursive space: Agency and change in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PB), pages 379-388.
    11. Ali Aslan Gümüsay & Juliane Reinecke, 2022. "Researching for Desirable Futures: From Real Utopias to Imagining Alternatives," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 236-242, January.
    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. Jeffery S. McMullen & Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2009. "Managerial (In)attention to Competitive Threats," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 157-181, March.
    2. Nihit Goyal & Michael Howlett, 2018. "Technology and Instrument Constituencies as Agents of Innovation: Sustainability Transitions and the Governance of Urban Transport," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Kammerlander, Nadine & Burger, Dominik & Fust, Alexander & Fueglistaller, Urs, 2015. "Exploration and exploitation in established small and medium-sized enterprises: The effect of CEOs' regulatory focus," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 582-602.
    4. Katariina Koistinen & Satu Teerikangas, 2021. "The Debate If Agents Matter vs. the System Matters in Sustainability Transitions—A Review of the Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-32, March.
    5. , Diego, 2017. "The Natural and Infrastructural Capital Elements of Potential Post-Electrification Wealth Creation in Kenya," SocArXiv ddnhz, Center for Open Science.
    6. Liu, Zhiqiang & Yan, Miao & Fan, Youqing & Chen, Liling, 2021. "Ascribed or achieved? The role of birth order on innovative behaviour in the workplace," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 480-492.
    7. Pin Li & Jinsuo Zhang, 2019. "Is China’s Energy Supply Sustainable? New Research Model Based on the Exponential Smoothing and GM(1,1) Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    8. Federico Cuomo & Stefania Ravazzi & Federico Savini & Luca Bertolini, 2020. "Transformative Urban Living Labs: Towards a Circular Economy in Amsterdam and Turin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Gössling, Stefan, 2016. "Urban transport justice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-9.
    10. Haidar, Ahmed M.A. & Muttaqi, Kashem & Sutanto, Danny, 2015. "Smart Grid and its future perspectives in Australia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1375-1389.
    11. Risa Arai & Martin Calisto Friant & Walter J. V. Vermeulen, 2024. "The Japanese Circular Economy and Sound Material-Cycle Society Policies: Discourse and Policy Analysis," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 619-650, March.
    12. Saeedeh Ahmadi & Saeed Khanagha & Luca Berchicci & Justin J. P. Jansen, 2017. "Are Managers Motivated to Explore in the Face of a New Technological Change? The Role of Regulatory Focus, Fit, and Complexity of Decision‐Making," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 209-237, March.
    13. Gunnar Bergström & Klas Gustafsson & Emmanuel Aboagye & Staffan Marklund & Gunnar Aronsson & Christina Björklund & Constanze Leineweber, 2020. "A Resourceful Work Environment Moderates the Relationship between Presenteeism and Health. A Study Using Repeated Measures in the Swedish Working Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-14, June.
    14. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    15. Tattini, Jacopo & Ramea, Kalai & Gargiulo, Maurizio & Yang, Christopher & Mulholland, Eamonn & Yeh, Sonia & Karlsson, Kenneth, 2018. "Improving the representation of modal choice into bottom-up optimization energy system models – The MoCho-TIMES model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 265-282.
    16. Baurzhan, Saule & Jenkins, Glenn P., 2016. "Off-grid solar PV: Is it an affordable or appropriate solution for rural electrification in Sub-Saharan African countries?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1405-1418.
    17. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Martiskainen, Mari, 2020. "Hot transformations: Governing rapid and deep household heating transitions in China, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    18. Sue-Chan, Christina & Au, Al K.C. & Hackett, Rick D., 2012. "Trust as a mediator of the relationship between leader/member behavior and leader-member-exchange quality," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 459-468.
    19. Sheng Ouyang & Renyi Li & Kaili Chen & Zhaoyang Liu, 2024. "Entrepreneurial Sustainability: The Impact Mechanism of Opportunity Co-Creation on Entrepreneurial Action in Underdeveloped Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-21, October.
    20. Ali Enes Dingil & Federico Rupi & Domokos Esztergár-Kiss, 2021. "An Integrative Review of Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Travel Decision-Making and Urban Transport Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.

    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:eee:jbrese:v:190:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325000554. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    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.