Olivier Boiral

• PhD in Business Administration
• Professor (Full) at Université Laval

This article analyzes management scholars' recommendations for business managers on how to respond to climate change. It distinguishes recommendations by whether they propose responsiveness to climate change that aims for adaptation, mitigation, and resilience as short-term orientations as well as transformation and regeneration as long-term orient...

Over the last decade, various studies have focused on the functioning of local food policy councils and their key role in institutionalizing participatory governance mechanisms involving stakeholders concerned with the promotion of sustainable food systems. Nevertheless, the literature remains scattered, inconclusive, and mostly dissociated from th...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the motivations for environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk management by agri-food companies and the neutralization techniques used to legitimize the measures taken in this area. Design/methodology/approach Based on an analysis of the sustainability reporting of 135 companies, thi...

This article aims to analyze the challenges that arise for organizations when they make carbon neutrality commitments, the practices involved in implementing those commitments, and the impacts they have, based on a systematic review of empirical studies focused on the managerial and organizational implications of carbon neutrality initiatives. Thro...

The aim of this article is to investigate how the standardization process and the public consultations carried out in the development of new sustainable finance standards and laws tend to shape the decontestation of practices in this field. The analysis of 255 comment letters submitted by various stakeholders in the context of these public consulta...

The objective of this article is to analyze the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks to which agri-food companies are exposed and the various practices they adopt to manage them. An analysis of the sustainability reporting produced by 135 agri-food companies that are relatively committed to ESG risk management shows the wide diversity...

With the expressed aim of reducing uncertainty and lack of precision about the Circular Economy paradigm, several standards are being proposed by standard-setting bodies. The world’s most prominent body — the International Organization for Standardization — is developing the ISO 59000 family of standards to establish a common language and conceptua...

La consommation de protéines végétales présente plusieurs bénéfices sur le plan de la santé, de l’environnement et du développement du secteur agro-alimentaire. Malgré les avantages liés à la consommation de protéines végétales, la consommation de viande demeure souvent privilégiée. Cet article présente une revue de la littérature de presse visant...

The objective of this study is to identify the best practices of Facebook use for municipalities looking to communicate and interact with their citizens, with a particular impact for rural municipalities. A narrative review was conducted to identify the scientific and gray literature on research databases and Google, respectively. A thematic analys...

Promotional campaigns, usually characterized by inter-organizational partnerships focused on food distribution or restaurant services, aim to increase awareness about various benefits of responsible consumption. This is particularly important for the rural population which is frequently involved in the sectors of economy linked to farming and food...

The activities of electric utilities have a significant impact on biodiversity loss. This study examines the disclosure practices and strategies of electric utilities in Canada (N = 95). Content analysis of sustainability reports and corporate websites reveals a significant gap between the risks of biodiversity loss and the companies' commitments i...

The main objective of this study is to understand the value of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure assurance in the context of the development of sustainable finance standards and laws. This study is based on an analysis of 188 comment letters submitted by such actors in the context of public consultations on the development of t...

The number of practices promoting local food have been rapidly growing in recent years, mainly in response to the increasing interest from consumers and their sustainability benefits. The objective of this scoping review is to present a taxonomy of the most promising promotion practices in this domain. A targeted search within a database specialize...

The food industry is facing crises, such as loss of habitat for biodiversity and poor working conditions for farm workers, as well as pressures, especially from external stakeholders, that are leading companies in the sector to move toward responsible sourcing. The literature on this topic has grown considerably over the last ten years and sheds li...

This study explores how government organizations integrate audit recommendations and justify decoupling auditees’ commitments from organizational realities. Moreover, it examines the analysis of recommendations from 31 sustainability performance audits conducted in 20 Canadian public organizations over 12 years. The longitudinal approach adopted in...

Abstract With the expressed aim of reducing uncertainty and lack of precision about the Circular Economy paradigm, several standards are being proposed by standard-setting bodies. The world’s most prominent body — the International Organization for Standardization — is developing the ISO 59000 family of standards to establish a common language and...

Circular economy (CE) has attracted both media and academic interest. However, there is a lack of empirical work that clarifies the specific activities involved in CE at the firm level. To fill this gap, this article offers an analysis of how firms disclose information about their activities associated with CE, based on an extensive worldwide datas...

In the last two decades there has been a growing contribution to environmental and social accounting from the Spanish and Latin American academic community, both in Spanish and in English - the dominant language in the production and dissemination of this type of specialised academic knowledge. In this extensive academic production, the one related...

Despite some improvements and increasing social pressures, most organizations seem to be stagnating in a superficial implementation of sustainability practices despite the accumulation of climate change consequences. Research on corporate sustainability has shown that external pressures and psychological factors influence managers’ environmental de...

This study aims to analyze the role of cross‐cultural differences between Indigenous communities and extractive organizations with regard to the sustainability measures these organizations employ. Although Indigenous communities are important stakeholders, especially in remote areas where extractive organizations are mainly located, these organizat...

Organizations across various industries engage in biodiversity conservation as a way to achieve sustainable development and to manage stakeholder engagement expectations. Although the importance of information and communication technology to promote biodiversity conservation has been recognized, little attention has been devoted to shedding more li...

Research question/issue This study explores the challenges faced by responsible investment and shareholder activism practitioners in integrating sustainability by means of proxy voting as shareholder engagement strategy. Research findings/insights Proxy voting guidelines that sometimes include sustainability provisions are applied in a very elasti...

The objective of this article is to analyze the neutralization techniques that organizations involved in the promotion and use of pesticides use in order to respond to the sustainability-related stigma they face. This study is based on a qualitative content analysis of 77 briefs submitted to a public hearing organized by the National Assembly of Qu...

The objective of this study is to analyze the institutional logics underlying pesticide use and the resistance displayed by organizations in this sector against social pressures to reduce the use of these substances. This in‐depth study of a public hearing on pesticides set up by the National Assembly of Quebec (Canada) in 2019 shows the often very...

The objective of this study is to investigate the interfirm comparability of climate performance disclosed in the sustainability reports produced by car manufacturers that have been criticized over the past few years. The in‐depth content analysis of the data disclosed by 17 car manufacturers over the period of 2014 to 2017, covering the five main...

This article analyzes the main neutralization techniques used in car manufacturers’ sustainability reports to disclose on the Dieselgate scandal. We conduct a conventional qualitative content analysis of 72 sustainability reports, covering the period 2013-2017, from 15 car manufacturers that were accused of unethical behaviors related to the measur...

A video presentation (“a paper in 5 minutes”) of “Nature connectedness and environmental management in natural resources companies” is available on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydiPpyPMhwM You can add English subtitle to the Youtube video to translate the presentation

This article analyzes the organizational engagement with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), an initiative for corporate social responsibility also referred to as the 2030 Agenda. Engagement with the SDGs by organizations all around the world, whatever their sector and size, has attracted a lot of media interest and heightened...

This article analyzes the role of quality management in the internalization of environmental practices. A qualitative study based on interviews with 35 practitioners was conducted in three African countries (Cameroon, Senegal, and Ivory Coast). The results highlight the contrasting roles played by the main reference model for quality management—Int...

Employee-driven pro-environmental innovations improve the performance of public organizations and contribute to social well-being. Nevertheless, the factors that impede the emergence of such innovations remain unclear. To shed light on why some employee-driven innovations succeed while others fail, 33 semi-structured interviews with public sector m...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the practices, challenges and ethical issues underlying the fabric and dissemination of corporate sustainability ratings. Design/methodology/approach Based on 36 semi-structured interviews with sustainability rating practitioners, the study shows the trade-offs, ethical judgments and customizable asp...

The objective of this study was to analyze the early COVID-19 crisis management practices implemented in organizations based on a scoping review of relevant business articles published on this issue in newspapers and magazines between March and May 2020. In total, after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria on 2707 potentially relevant articles...

Implementing a substantial environmental strategy that addresses all phases of the product lifecycle is a complex and demanding challenge that most organizations fail to convincingly overcome. Based on a case study of five frontrunner companies located in Italy and Norway, this study explores the factors that promote, or hinder, the learning proces...

Employee proactive working behavior such as organizational citizenship behavior is important to improve organizations’ various outcomes. With the increasing attention to sustainable development, employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) begins to be an important topic in the environmental management field. However, t...

In the recent decades, forest certification based on third-party external audits has gained momentum. This type of certification has been developed as a monitoring tool aimed at improving governance in corporate environmental management and differentiating products in the increasing environmentally sensitive markets. Although the scholarly literatu...

The biodiversity disclosure practices of sub‐national governments remain understudied and poorly understood. The present study investigates the biodiversity disclosure practices of the 101 public organizations in Québec, Canada. The study's purpose is to better understand the internal dynamics that may explain the various shortcomings observed in o...

Since the early 2000s, short sea shipping (SSS) is often associated with significant social and environmental benefits. To encourage a modal shift, several nations around the world have developed public SSS policies. However, the policies’ effectiveness are increasingly being questioned in the public arena. Therefore, the current article’s primary...

This paper investigates the role of power distance and orality in the internalization of ISO 14001 in Africa. The data was collected from 35 semi-structured interviews with a set of relevant stakeholders: managers, employees, environmental coordinators/directors, consultants, and auditors in Cameroon, Senegal, and Ivory Coast. The results point to...

Previous studies have reported a conflict between nurses' motivation to provide humanized care and practical requirements impeding them from doing so. This exploratory descriptive qualitative study aimed to explore nurses' perspectives on humanized care, the challenges they face, and, most importantly, their recommendations to overcome these barrie...

This paper is aimed at analyzing, through a counter-accounting approach, to what extent companies considered to be sustainability leaders release transparent and balanced information on their commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A content analysis was conducted on the sustainability report...

Objectives: Sustainable nutrition is increasingly important, as the food system contributes one third of greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable nutrition, or sustainable diet, refers to diets with low environmental impacts that contribute to food security and health. This systematic review aimed to identify factors that influence whether profession...

Résumé Les auteurs analysent la genèse de la norme ISO 45001 sur la sécurité et la santé au travail, une initiative de régulation transnationale privée. Ils décrivent les controverses qui ont surgi à cette occasion, en se fondant sur des entretiens avec des personnes associées à l'élaboration, l'approbation et la diffusion initiale du texte, ainsi...

Eco-efficiency is considered as a relevant practice for corporate sustainability as this concept addresses both environmental and economic issues. Similarly, eco-efficient indicators are seen as useful instrument for corporate environmental management. The literature has studied the use of eco-efficient indicators by companies from different sector...

This article analyzes the contribution of certifiable environmental management standards—such as ISO 14001 and the Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)—to corporate environmental performance. Based on a content analysis of 414 third‐party‐verified environmental statements from EMAS‐registered Spanish organizations, which included information for...

The objective of this paper is to investigate the rigorousness and reliability of sustainability rating agencies' evaluation of corporate sustainability risks. Using grounded theory, this study conducts a qualitative analysis of 32 semi‐structured interviews with practitioners involved in this activity and shows the trade‐offs and rational myths un...

Resumen Este artículo analiza la génesis de la norma ISO 45001 sobre seguridad y salud en el trabajo, una nueva iniciativa de regulación privada transnacional. Resume los resultados de un trabajo de campo basado en entrevistas con actores involucrados en el diseño, aprobación y difusión inicial de la norma y de un análisis cualitativo de documentac...

This article analyzes the genesis of the ISO 45001 standard for Occupational Health and Safety, a new initiative of transnational private regulation. Based on interviews with stakeholders involved in its design, approval, and initial dissemination, together with a qualitative content analysis of the internal documentation of the committee responsib...

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impression management strategies that practitioners in the sustainability rating industry use to build confidence in the reliability of ratings and explain these ratings’ lack of convergence. Based on semi-structured interviews with 36 practitioners, this study sheds more light on the socially construct...

This article analyses the added value of IATF 16949 – a standard for quality management in the automotive sector – with respect to ISO 9001, the most popular standard for quality management worldwide. An exploratory qualitative study was carried out based on a multiple case study. Eight companies operating at different levels of the Spanish automot...

Voluntary certifiable environmental management standards such as ISO 14001 and EMAS have been extensively adopted and disseminated worldwide, but the rigorous assessment of the real effectiveness of these tools is challenging. There is a need for more research focused on the concrete operational implications for certified organizations. The analysi...

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) allows researchers to identify the determinants of environmental behavior and subsequently target these factors in interventions. Multiple studies on conservation behaviors have recently applied this theoretical framework in both organizational and domestic settings. To shed more light on how the TPB was used in...

It should be noted that the relationship between economics and the environment has never previously featured as one of mankind’s primary or principal concerns. It presently does. The recent worldwide student mobilization for climate action, the Climate Change Congress in Paris (December 2015) or the dieselgate related to the scandals involving comp...

Purpose The aim of this study was to identify and quantitatively assess the importance of psychosocial and organizational factors that influence employees' intentions to engage in pro-environmental behaviors at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire based on the theory of planned behavior was completed by 318 employees. To vali...

The adoption of voluntary environmental certifications such as ISO 14001 and Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) has gained momentum in the last two decades. The scholarly literature has analyzed in depth the performance implications of the adoption of these certificates. Yet the findings are scattered and inconclusive. This article aims to shed...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the professionalism and professionalization of sustainability assurance providers based on the experiences and perceptions of auditors involved in this activity. Design/methodology/approach The empirical study was based on 38 semi-directed interviews conducted with assurance providers from accounting...

The objective of this paper is to investigate how indigenous peoples’ involvement can improve the environmental management practices of organizations in the natural resource extraction sector. Based on a qualitative study and semi-structured interviews with 33 respondents, this study sheds more light on the environmental involvement of a particular...

The objective of this paper is to investigate, through a qualitative study based on 38 semi-structured interviews with agents who provide assurance of sustainability reports, how they perceive and manage ethical issues underlying the verification of sustainability reports. Most of the ethical issues observed involve four interconnected aspects: the...

Sustainability reporting has become a common practice and is generally considered to be positive. Yet, a growing body of scholarly literature has criticized the transparency and usefulness of this practice. The main objective of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the reliability of assurance statements for sustainability reports and th...

The current literature on environmental sustainability acknowledges that habits are often shaped in private life and that experiences with environmental activities in a non-work setting positively influence environmental behaviors in the work domain. However, the conditions that lead individuals to behave responsibly at work based on their environm...

This article analyzes how organizations communicate their voluntary environmental management certification. Previous research suggests that firms use certification to signal and to create a better public image as one of their main objectives in adopting environmental management standards. How organizations communicate their certification to their s...

The objective of this paper is to explore the initiatives for community engagement with indigenous people implemented by extractive organizations and their possible alignment with the integrative framework of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. A qualitative study based on 33 semi-directed interviews with practitioners and experts in manag...

This article presents an analysis of the opinions of assurance providers regarding the quality and the limitations of sustainability reports and their recommendations to improve them using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as a framework. The qualitative content analysis of 301 assurance statements for sustainability reports from mining and ene...

The objective of this paper is to explore, through a qualitative study of small regional airports, how sustainability issues are taken into account in remote small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on 42 semi-structured interviews conducted with managers of small regional Canadian airports and experts in this area, this study shows the qu...

The literature on the green behaviors adopted by individuals in workplace settings has grown significantly over the last decade. Many studies have examined the factors associated with individual actions. However, the comparability of the studies conducted on the subject is a common concern, mainly because of the wide range of measurement tools base...

This paper presents an empirical examination of the role of employee involvement in the internalization of corporate biodiversity management. A qualitative study in natural resource companies was conducted, based on semi‐directive interviews with managers, consultants, and experts in this area. The findings show that employee involvement is essenti...

This article presents a conceptual and empirical review of the literature related to the link between the different perspectives, models, and tools associated with Quality Management and Environmental Management. Several academic works identified in the literature that aimed to establish conceptual similarities between QM and EM are reviewed and di...

This article aims to evaluate the credibility of information disclosed by public organizations in terms of sustainable development. It focuses on an under-studied aspect in the sustainability reporting literature—namely, the factors that may affect the credibility of disclosure practices. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of the sustaina...

Introduction: The implications of OHSAS 18001 for substantive Occupational Health and Safety outcomes such, as a reduction in work accidents, have been under-researched in the scholarly literature. The impact of this standard on other aspects of performance, such as profitability and productivity, has attracted more attention. Method: This artic...

Over 1.5 million ISO 9001 certificates are in effect worldwide, 30 years after this quality management standard was launched. As the factory of the world, China is by far the leading country for ISO 9001, in terms of both absolute and relative numbers and growth. Nevertheless, practitioners have cast doubts on the reliability of adopting ISO third-...

The objective of this paper is to analyze the meaning, manifestations and practical implications of connectedness to nature in natural resources companies. This research is motivated by the lack of scholarly works aimed to analyze the organizational applications of the connectedness to nature concept. A qualitative and exploratory study based on se...

The objective of this longitudinal study is to analyze the intrinsic drivers and values underlying managers’ organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment (OCBEs) from a developmental psychology perspective based on measuring the stages of consciousness that shape the meaning-making systems of individuals. At time 1, the stages of consci...

This study analyzes ‘hard’ (i.e. formal structures) and ‘soft’ (i.e. values) determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, such as the effectiveness of management systems for CSR and the role of managers' organizational citizenship behaviours. Based on a sample of 130 Italian organizations that adopted management systems accord...

The environmental performance of organizations largely depends on the voluntary participation of employees in greening activities. Workers in any organization can voluntarily perform numerous environmental behaviors, such as recycling, carpooling, or using video-conferencing rather than travelling. Yet, in many organizations, these behaviors remain...

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants underlying the internalization of proactive environmental management proposed by certifiable environmental management systems (EMS) such as those foreseen by ISO 14001 and EMAS (the European Management and Auditing Scheme). Using a study based on 232 usable questionnaires from EMAS-reg...

The objective of this study was to analyze the quality of climate information disclosed by companies and the impression management strategies they have developed to justify or conceal negative aspects of their performance. The study is based on a qualitative content analysis of the sustainability reports of 21 energy-sector companies that use the G...

This introductory chapter contains a general overview and a descriptive analysis of the dissemination of the two main global management system standards or metastandards—the ISO 14001 and the ISO 9001—on an international level. The first two global certifiable management system standards are presented, together with a descriptive analysis of the gl...

The adoption of ISO management standards has significantly increased over the last decade in developing countries, especially in Africa. Between 2014 and 2015, the number of certifications in the African continent increased by 20% for ISO 9001 and 19% for ISO 14001. Despite this rapid increase in absolute terms, ISO certifications in Africa remain...

Published in 2011, the ISO 50001 system on energy management has since become one of the fastest-growing ISO management standards. However, its efficacy, implementation and integration within enterprises have been overlooked in the literature. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the relevance of the ISO 50001 standard to reducing energy consumpti...

Several CSR certifiable meta-standards have been launched in recent decades but one of the most popular and widespread has been the SA8000 standard, as the ISO 26000 launched by ISO is not suitable for certification purposes (Hahn in Bus Strategy Environ 22:442–455, 2013). Indeed, in the scholarly literature, SA8000 has been considered to be one of...

This article analyzes the motivations, internalization challenges and outcomes of implementing certifiable standards for corporate biodiversity management. For this purpose, a qualitative study based on interviews with 39 environmental managers, auditors, consultants and other experts in the field was conducted. The findings show that the adoption...

Corporate operations can have significant impacts on biodiversity. Nevertheless, the literature has overlooked the analysis of the organizational practices underlying corporate commitment to biodiversity. The objective of this article is to contribute to this under-researched issue by shedding light on the best practices of biodiversity conservatio...

Biodiversity conservation is increasingly integrated into the environmental management practices of organizations. Nevertheless, the literature has overlooked the analysis of the general motivations for and the organizational implications underlying corporate commitment to biodiversity. In order to fulfil this gap, the objective of this article is...

Au début des années 2000, le Gouvernement du Québec a négocié avec les acteurs du secteur de l’aluminium des ententes volontaires de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES). Pour les autorités gouvernementales, ces accords permettent généralement de pallier le vide institutionnel en la matière. Cependant les raisons qui motivent la pa...

This article sheds light on the manner in which managers perceive, develop and integrate dynamic capabilities for eco-efficient activities inherent to industrial ecology. The research employs a case study of 12 Canadian facilities involved in the processing of a wide variety of waste materials. Findings from the experiences of 60 managers interview...