Environmental Sustainability as a Core Value in a Company with a High Carbon Footprint

The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore how a single company with a high fossil fuel use adapted to the triple bottom line approach encompassing social, environmental, and economic sustainability. Sensemaking was used to examine employee perspectives and provide context to business activities. This in-depth examination used publicly available documents, site observations, and 14 semi-structured interviews with three executives, three directors, four managers, three hourly employees, and one truck driver. The findings reveal that the history of Integrated Transportation Services (ITS) Logistics contributed to leadership actions that were paramount to the efforts toward economic sustainability and growth, along with current practices related to the long-established organizational culture. Additionally, the company’s organizational culture, along with the established core values at ITS Logistics, was found to be critical in the integration of environmental sustainability. A discussion of these findings and related implications for practice are noted in accordance with the related literature.