Addressing the Sustainability Challenge: Insights from Institutional Theory and Organizational Learning

Abstract:     
The pursuit of corporate sustainability (CS) has the attention of a broad range of corporate stakeholders, yet little is known about how individual firms pursue sustainability initiatives. Institutional pressures that drive firms to focus on sustainability are varied and introduce uncertainty into the business environment. In this paper, institutional theory and response strategies are integrated with theories of organizational learning in an attempt to understand how firms shape their response to institutional pressures through sustainability initiatives. Based on a qualitative case study approach, we find that organizations create diverse responses through two primary strategies: manipulation and acquiescence. The pursuit of sustainability entails a simultaneous process of exploring new possibilities while exploiting existing capabilities. Sustainability initiatives were found to be facilitated through top management support, an open approach to surfacing CS initiatives, and intra- and inter-organizational alliances.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 14

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability, exploitation, exploration, institutional theory, learning alliances, organizational learning, organizational response strategy, sustainability initiatives

working papers series