The United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has considerable potential for achieving a more sustainable future. However, the concrete realisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is impeded by how they are implemented by a diverse set of competent agents. This conceptual paper draws on social impact theory to investigate how businesses can utilise the SDG framework to achieve positive social outcomes. We identify two pathways that can guide businesses to improve their SDGs interventions, which entail considering the _interconnections_ (...) between the goals that are directly or indirectly affected by the initiative at stake and the _inclusiveness_ of the actors affected by the SDGs. Building on the literature on hybrid organising (to frame interconnectedness) and the literature on multi-stakeholder partnerships and deliberative governance (to frame inclusiveness), we discuss a set of organisational mechanisms and transformations that can help businesses ensure that their SDGs interventions are more socially impactful. By doing so, this paper extends the literature on the role of companies for sustainable development and provides some practical implications. (shrink)

Most studies of corporate social responsibility have focused on the organisational level, while the individual level of analysis has been treated as a ‘black box’ when researching antecedents of CSR engagement or disengagement. This article offers insights into a small and medium-sized enterprise that is recognised as a pioneer in CSR. Although the extant literature suggests that the owner-manager is crucial in the implementation of CSR, this study reveals that employees drive CSR. The employees in the focal firm voluntarily joined (...) forces based on their shared perception of moral responsibility for CSR and they developed strict targets to be achieved by 2030. Despite their strong ethical and moral perspective when enacting CSR, they disengaged from their moral responsibility for CSR in various contexts. This paper contributes to the theory of moral decoupling by uncovering a novel context of disengagement—‘visionary procrastination’. Visionary procrastination is suggested to be a particularly relevant context of disengagement when individuals perceive moral responsibility for CSR. Moreover, by delivering insights into the antecedents of employee-initiated CSR on the organisational level, this study adds to the growing body of literature on the micro-foundations of CSR. (shrink)

Multinational enterprises dominate the governance of global value chains, such that according to the concept of political corporate social responsibility, they are responsible to address governance gaps throughout the chains, even at the level of their independent suppliers. In practice, MNEs often struggle to cope with the complexity of these governance gaps, and PCSR does not provide a clear definition nor offer guidance for how to analyze and address them. By adopting the notion of governance mechanisms from GVC literature, this (...) study proposes a more nuanced view, in which governance gaps result from inactive, ineffective, or inequitable governance mechanisms adopted by relevant actors, rather than a complete absence of governance. MNEs, through their governance mechanisms, commonly create governance gaps. This study distinguishes different types of governance mechanisms to create a typology of governance gaps, such that it contributes to the literature on PCSR by offering a more refined understanding of governance gaps, along with a means to identify mechanisms to address them. Furthermore, it contributes to the literature on GVCs by defining governance-related terms and adding an ethical perspective on MNEs’ global business conduct. To illustrate the typology, this article presents the case of low wages for workers in the textile industry and efforts by H&M to deal with this governance gap. (shrink)

Effective implementation and committed practice of sustainable procurement remain a significant challenge for many organisations across the globe. This paper sought to understand the extent to which employees’ perceptions influence the practice of sustainable procurement in the context of a developing country where sustainability awareness is low. Drawing on the Diffusion of Innovation theory, procurement officers’ perceptions of sustainable procurement were examined relative to the attributes of complexity, compatibility and relative advantage. Empirical data from 322 Ghanaian organisations were analysed using (...) descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling to determine the nature of procurement officers’ perceptions of sustainable procurement and the effects of the perceptions on relevant organisational practices. The findings indicate that whereas perceptions of relative advantage did not significantly influence the practice of sustainable procurement, perceptions of compatibility had a significant positive effect, and perceptions of complexity had a significant negative effect on sustainable procurement. This study offers insights into the link between employees’ perceptions and organisational sustainable procurement practice, thereby providing a conceptual basis for effective management of the pertinent relationships with implications for enhanced ethical practices in procurement and supply chain management. (shrink)

The corporate ethics literature has considerably focused on whether giving results in getting. However, the relationship between corporate philanthropy and performance and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Drawing on signaling and cue consistency theories, we develop and test a model that specifies whether, how, and when corporate philanthropy benefits relative competitive performance from a micro-process perspective. Using a Chinese sample of 1623 employees, 145 CEOs, and 145 human resources managers, we found that corporate philanthropy could positively influence relative competitive performance (...) through the internal processes—organization-level citizenship behaviors of employees. Moreover, work–life balance practices strengthen the aforementioned mediation. In particular, when a firm performs high levels of work–life balance practices, corporate philanthropy tends to promote more citizenship behaviors in the entire organization, thereby enhancing the relative competitive performance of the firm. By contrast, when organizations perform low levels of work–life balance practices, the aforementioned mediation becomes nonsignificant. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)

This paper examines the growing number of publications on multinational enterprise management of sustainability issues. Based on an integrative literature review and thematic analysis, the paper analyses and synthesises the current state of knowledge about main issues arising. Key issues identified include the following: choice of sustainability strategies; management of the views of headquarters towards sustainability; local cultural sustainability perspectives in developed and developing host countries; MNEs with home in developing/emerging countries; and resource availability for implementing sustainability initiatives. Findings indicate (...) that although the literature is tending towards growing acceptance about sustainability and its challenges most researchers have focused on corporate social responsibility and investigate their own niche problem, industry, and country, using their own chosen theory and do not consider the need for consolidation and integration of social, environmental and economic performance. Avenues for future research are identified which will provide a means for the ethical foundations of theory and practice to be improved. (shrink)