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Social Sustainability in Business Organizations: A Research Agenda

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  • Merlina Missimer

    (Department of Strategic Sustainable Development, Blekinge Institute of Technology, 371 41 Karlskrona, Sweden)

  • Patricia Lagun Mesquita

    (Department of Strategic Sustainable Development, Blekinge Institute of Technology, 371 41 Karlskrona, Sweden)

Abstract

Since the economic crisis in 2008, the world has seen a partly negative shift in social progress, highlighting that current economic models and practices do not guarantee long-lasting societal and human wellbeing. Economic models and business practices are deeply intertwined; thus, businesses play a major role in the advancement of social sustainability, and academic research can offer support in navigating the complexity of this issue. However, social sustainability tends to be under-researched. This article summarizes the discussion in general business management, product development, and supply-chain management, and from this suggest a research agenda to help in guiding systematic change in business organizations towards social sustainability. The article identifies ten main challenges and offers five recommendations to move the field forward, namely, a more explicit engagement with and discussion of social systems-science based ideas, and a more explicit determination as a field to converge on key pieces leading towards a clearer definition of the concept. Lastly, it recommends that research needs to focus on how to overcome fragmented organizational structures, how to achieve true integration into existing processes and tools, and how to support organizations to become more dynamic in working with these issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Merlina Missimer & Patricia Lagun Mesquita, 2022. "Social Sustainability in Business Organizations: A Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2608-:d:757106
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Kun Wang & Yongjian Ke, 2024. "Towards sustainable development: Assessing social sustainability of Australian aged care system," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 7186-7200, December.

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