No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Sustainability standard setting as local government matter: an Italian experience
Abstract
Sustainability is a globally targeted concept widely debated in the literature, but still seeking a commonly agreed operationalization within applicable standards. The role of standard setter is commonly played by multi-stakeholder international organizations aiming at offering sound solutions for all kind of organizations, while what could be the role of a local government (LG) as sustainability standard setter and how this could impact on the definitions, rubrics, and measurement of sustainability is currently under-investigated. The case of an Italian LG already acting as standard setter allows to understand the reasons for, the strengths and the weaknesses of territorially bounded standards.
... In particular, setting national/industry standards (N/IS) is considered to be one of the most important factors for enhancing enterprises' energy-saving and environmental protection activities in developing countries [1,2]. Adapting and implementing environmentally friendly N/IS would relieve pressure on environmentally sensitive resources and capture sustainable development [3,4]. This has provided a strong signal to policy decision-makers to endorse standard-enhancing R&D policy for sustainable development. ...
... N/IS concerning energy efficiency and environmental protection are keys to sustainable development [1,3,4] and have proliferated in the past 20 years, both nationally and internationally [5,37]. One example is the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which is designed to prevent further degradation of air quality. ...
... Most countries stimulate innovation motivations and encourage their enterprises to invest in R&D through government subsidies. This paper represents one of the first attempts to estimate the effects of government subsidies for R&D on N/IS-setting, which is critical to sustainable development [3,4], and further examines how state ownership, position in industry, and intellectual property owned by companies influence the effect of government subsidies for R&D. ...
This study investigates the effects of government subsidies for R&D on resource and environmental enterprises’ voluntary national/industry standard- (N/IS-) setting, which is critical to sustainable development. Based on innovation motivation and capability theory, we propose a research framework and hypothesis, using a panel dataset on 11,556 Chinese resource and environmental enterprises from 2011 to 2013 to test our hypotheses. We find that government subsidies for R&D have a U-shaped relationship with N/IS-setting for sustainable development. Moreover, we also find that state ownership, position in industry, and patent properties are contingency factors suggesting that non-state-owned enterprises, industry-following enterprises, or enterprises with more patents come up with N/IS-settings of significantly greater value than state-owned enterprises, leading enterprises, or enterprises with fewer patents. Endogeneity issues are addressed by utilizing two-stage estimations with instrumental variables (IVs).
... Also, professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) have developed their own definitions, such as 'sustainable procurement' as "the act of adopting social, economic and environmental factors alongside the typical price and quality considerations into the organizations' handling of procurement processes and procedures" (CIPS, 2021). In addition, the diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, nongovernmental organizations, consumers, and corporations, all have a different perception of what sustainability encompasses (Pepe et al., 2018;Souza et al, 2015). In this regard, it is important to note that Western definitions of sustainability and 'sustainable development' have also been criticized for severe consequences on minorities such as indigenous communities (Banerjee, 2003). ...
Motivated by the rising attention of businesses and regulators towards how digital transformation can assist sustainability improvement, this paper sheds light on the relationships between these two phenomena. Specifically, this research pioneers the study of ‘digital sustainability’ through a systematic review of 153 academic articles aimed to 1) consolidate the existing research, 2) understand the thematic connections amongst the different studies, and 3) identify research gaps to move forward in the development of the topic. The suggested research agenda has important theoretical and practical implications. Through the identified gaps, this study acknowledges the management scholarship of pitfalls and delays on the research topic, providing detailed guidance to develop this new stream of subject area. The opportunistic approach of this paper responds to the practical call for support in understanding the use of digitalization for sustainability-related goals. This research directly impacts a wide range of practitioners, including managers, consultants, and policymakers.
... Further, this study contributes to the literature on social responsibility standard certifications, using a pragmatic and eclectic theoretical approach to explore the legitimate motivations for applying for an LR (Bansal & Hunter, 2003;King et al., 2005;Mueller et al., 2009). The LR is also an unusual kind of certification, because the central actor that certifies the firm's behaviour is the State, and, when the standard setter belongs to the public sphere, the characteristics of the process can have relevant differences compared to other certification typologies (Pepe et al., 2018). ...
As Legality Rating (LR) for Italian companies was only recently introduced, it is an under-investigated phenomenon that is difficult to univocally interpret or structure within a well-defined theoretical framework. Given that certain governance characteristics can drive strategic decisions and have a crucial role to play in the legitimacy process, this paper sets out to explore how governance can influence a firm's attitude and signal its socially responsible behaviour, in terms of legality. We investigated both corporate and regional governance antecedents using a sample of 1049 private Italian firms with a listed LR in 2016. We analysed hierarchical linear models with the LR score as a dependent variable, ranging from one to seven points. As a first in governance studies, we adopted the European Quality of Government Index to investigate differences in regional-level governance. We found that board size, ownership concentration, foreign ownership and being a cooperative were positively related to LR. Our results show that, where governance features make firms more inclined to safeguard their reputation, the LR is higher. Thus, rather than encouraging changes oriented to greater respect for the principles of legality, the LR primarily highlights companies that already behave honourably. Finally, a battery of robustness tests and further analyses on the role of regional governance quality reveal a substitution effect between regional and corporate governance.
... To strengthen the poor's (such as farmers) subjective initiative in increasing their income, governments, non-governmental organizations, and social enterprises offer tools, financing, and channels to improve agricultural production levels [5,6]. In general, these financial instruments are implemented directly (such as direct purchasing) or indirectly (such as taxes, subsidies, and regulations) [7]. ...
In the poverty alleviation supply chain, subsidies for enterprises or farmers are widely implemented as part of government policy. However, subsidy fraud often occurs, such as misreporting cost information to secure subsidies. Inspired by this, our study aims to explore the optimal decision-making problem of the three-level (government + enterprises + farmers) poverty alleviation supply chain under asymmetric cost information. Four-stage models are constructed to capture the interactions among these three players. Additionally, numerical examples are used to analyze the implications of key parameters, such as cost coefficient and punitive measures coefficient, on supply chain members’ optimal decision and profit. Our findings demonstrate that both the enterprise and the farmer can obtain maximum profit from the misreporting behavior. Unfortunately, this behavior always damages the profit of other participants and weakens the efficiency of subsidy policy. Moreover, to mitigate the negative implication of misreporting behavior, the government can establish punitive measures to curtail misreporting. Our work provides important policy implications for governments and enterprises. To ensure that more consumers have access to poverty alleviation products, government organizations should prioritize such projects. In addition, the provision of public facilities and technical guidance should be more effective and prompt to share enterprises’ and farmers’ costs. We further recommend that subsidy policies be formulated according to recipients’ performance in poverty alleviation projects, with corresponding supervision and punitive measures. Finally, in cooperating with farmers in poverty alleviation, enterprises should maximize their interests and reduce costs through technological innovation and channel sharing.
... Zo zien we dat de 'Sustainable Development Goals' of 'Duurzame Ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen' een belangrijke rol spelen in de beleidsvoering van heel wat publieke organisaties (Stafford-Smith et al. 2017). Van publieke organisaties wordt immers niet alleen verwacht dat ze publieke waarde creëren, maar eveneens dat ze wegen op sociale en milieukwesties (Pepe, Paternostro, & Monfardini 2018) en zo hun maatschappelijke impact vergroten (Paarlberg & Lavigna 2010). ...
De public management-literatuur stelt dat een algemene altruïstische motivatie om de belangen van een gemeenschap van mensen, een staat, een natie of de mensheid te dienen (d.w.z. public service motivation of PSM) een belangrijke voorspeller is van de jobtevredenheid van medewerkers in de publieke sector. Inzichten in hoe publieke organisaties managementpraktijken kunnen gebruiken om dit motivatiemechanisme te beïnvloeden dan wel activeren, zijn echter beperkt. In dit artikel wordt daarom onderzocht of de managementaandacht voor duurzaamheid in publieke organisaties een impact kan hebben op PSM en jobtevredenheid. Specifiek wordt in dit onderzoek, op basis van de zelfdeterminatietheorie (ZDT), bestudeerd hoe de aandacht van het management voor duurzaamheid kan leiden tot de internalisering van de waarden onderliggend aan PSM en, uiteindelijk, jobtevredenheid. Het ontwikkelde theoretische model werd getest op basis van data verzameld bij 781 medewerkers van 41 Vlaamse lokale besturen. De resultaten tonen aan dat managementaandacht voor duurzaamheid een positieve relatie heeft met jobtevredenheid via PSM. De onderzoeksresultaten tonen eveneens aan dat managementaandacht voor duurzaamheid een positieve relatie heeft op de mate van PSM en jobtevredenheid van medewerkers omdat managementaandacht voor duurzaamheid een positieve relatie vertoont met de mogelijkheid tot maatschappelijke impact die deze medewerkers ervaren.
Chinese provincial governments choose to become active and leading participants in standardization projects rather than opt out of them. As most extant literatures focus on the effect of standardization without government intervention, a research question then arises whether standardization with government's lead could increase the output of innovation product like patent within a region. By investigating the case of China's standardization at provincial level, this study attempts to explore the association between standardization led by government and regional innovation performance. A series of panel data analyses shows the following. (1) Increasing the supply of local standards by provincial government significantly promotes the innovation performances of the cities in this province. (2) Policy of provincial governments to disclose standard content freely also benefit the cities' innovation performances in these particular provinces. (3) The fiscal investment of city government in science and technology positively moderates the effect of provincial government's lead in local standardization on the city's innovation performance. These results suggest that besides financial sponsorship, government could also directly contribute to innovation in a non-financial way by leading standardization. Our study adds to the discussion about government's possible roles in innovation.
This paper investigates the role of calculative practices in the phase of implementing strategies for enhanced sustainability in a city organization. Sustainability as a concept is arguably difficult to handle at the organizational level, becoming a challenge for public organizations in practice. This paper builds on the notion of performativity and follows a strategy implementation process over time in a city, allowing us to see how the sustainability ambitions altered over the observed period. This led to the conclusion that when sustainability is to be implemented, there is a shift towards financial control and calculative practices assume various roles.
Although the public management literature argues that public service motivation (PSM) is an important predictor of job satisfaction, insights on if and how public organisations can use management practices to impact this motivational mechanism are limited. Hence, the paper at hand examines, relying on value-based management and self-determination theory, how managerial attention for organizational sustainability could impact public service values internalization and job satisfaction. The results, based on data of 781 employees of 41 Flemish local governments, reveal that organizational sustainability is positively related to job satisfaction through the impact of perceived organizational support and societal impact potential on PSM.
Liberalization is one of the theis that is expected to be able to answer the acceleration and development of the economy of developing countries. One element of liberalization is market openness that will make developing countries unite with global markets both in accepting investments or trading in exports and imports. However, along with the development of technology, the demand for the North (developed countries) in carrying out its trade began to implement an "ecolabelling" policy. For developing countries with all their industrial capabilities, ecolabelling policy is the same as the non-tarrif limitation policy given by developed countries to developing countries. So that this paper will focus on the application of the ecolabelling policy provided by the North to products that will enter the northern market, as one of the efforts of the northern countries to apply "kicking away the ladder", assuming the Southern state does not get a balanced trade surplus with the north and continues to be a developing country. This writing will use a structuralist approach that concentrates on the international structure of the north and south to describe the relationship between developed and developing countries, and uses the concept of "kicking away the ladder" to answer the situation from the implementation of ecolabelling policies for South countries. The author uses qualitative studies using literature review sources through books, journals and online media. Keywords: Ecolabelling, Kicking away the ladder. North-South relations
This study adapts the New Governance Framework to investigate the perspectives of the regulators of India’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the perspectives of the regulated SOEs towards the country’s recent corporate social responsibility (CSR) law. This law mandates that companies spend a fixed amount of their profit on specified CSR activities. The findings indicate that SOEs welcome the regulation, but face implementation issues and political pressures. These issues are forcing SOEs to invest in less impactful CSR activities, which was previously not the case. Regulators believe that companies are making excuses, such as limited resources for implementation, no co-operation with the civil sector and lack of direct contact with communities. The authors argue that a more effective dialogue is required to ensure effective implementation of the new CSR regulation to deliver India’s social development agenda.
The environmental dimension of sustainability implies the role of cities, considering their institutional vocation to territorial management and their proximity to the needs expressed by the community. This paper aims to investigate the implementation of a sustainable approach by cities in the realization of environmental policies.
The methodology followed is regression (GLS method) that relates the expenses for the environmental policy of a sample of Italian cities (116) to some environmental indicators for the same municipalities (considering 2003–2011). Furthermore, t-test methodology is applied to compare the sample average values to the Italian average values of the selected environmental indicators. The paper takes into account not only a specific phase of sustainability, but it also considers the whole sustainability approach. In fact, the research connects the financial starting point of environmental policy (city's environmental financial commitment) to its environmental impacts (environmental indicators).
The results obtained show that the investigated cities, on the one hand, direct environmental expenses to critical factors affecting environmental sustainability but, on the other hand, their environmental policies are not very effective.
The research output gives useful information to city managers and politicians in order to focus their environmental policy on a sustainability approach that is effectiveness oriented.
This article presents a three-stage model of how isomorphic mechanisms have shaped corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting practices over time. In the first stage, defensive reporting, companies fail to meet stakeholder expectations due to a deficiency in firm performance. In this stage, the decision to report is driven by coercive isomorphism as firms sense pressure to close the expectational gap. In the second stage, proactive reporting, knowledge of CSR reporting spreads and the practice of CSR reporting becomes normatively sanctioned. In this stage, normative isomorphism leads other organizations to look to CSR reporting as a potential new opportunity for achieving the firm’s goals. In the third stage, imitative diffusion, the defensive reporters together with the proactive reporters create a critical mass of CSR reporters that reaches a threshold at which the benefits of CSR reporting begin to outweigh any costs due to mimetic isomorphism. The study finds support for the model in an examination of Fortune 500 firms from 1997 to 2006.
This paper presents an inductive account of how two divisions of the same corporation sought to standardize their engineering work. Although both groups achieved ISO 9000 certification, each was guided by historical antecedents and internal processes that left different legacies: a culture of cynicism and chaotic work practices in one division vis-a-vis a system of standardized work practices that are voluntarily (and often enthusiastically) followed in the other. The contrasting cases shed light on what happens when an external standard is adopted by an organization, converted into a formal directive, and then confronted by the norms and practices of an existing occupational community. More generally, the paper articulates how three common modes of social regulation-standards, directives, and norms-are interconnected in the process of implementing a standard in an organization, and the conditions under which institutional exigencies are either decoupled from or tightly coupled to technical work.
Since the launch of LA 21 in 1992, local governments in many countries have been seeking to improve sustainability. Various studies have been conducted in the past two decades. A brief review of the literature reveals general progress in citizen participation and a shift from the agenda-setting stage to action, including the Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI). However, the difficulty of taking a three-dimensional (environmental, economic and social) sustainability approach is being experienced in many places. Local communities are therefore adapting sustainable development to their individual context. Some past studies have investigated what influences local sustainability performance; this includes such factors as institutional capacity and the availability of community networks and champions in the public, private, and voluntary sectors. Drawing on their findings, this paper examines in particular the workings and effects of community networks in targeting sustainable development at the local level; it looks at three examples of current action towards sustainability in Japanese cities, focusing on social capital networks and the role local government is playing in the process. Investigating quantitatively whether social capital accumulation through citizen participation does in fact make a difference in the progress towards sustainability, and also examining qualitatively how it is possible to generate and make the most of social capital networks towards the same end, this paper concludes that social capital accumulation can indeed make a difference to the level of sustainability that can be achieved, but that the types of governance and of networks available in communities also make a difference to LA 21 outcomes. There is an essential role for local government to play: that is to (1) create an environment in which citizens empower themselves by collaboratively making the rules for participation, and (2) identify key individuals who connect the various networks and involve them in the development of sustainability strategies; thereby expediting the process of reaching the stage where local government and citizens share the same sustainability goals.
This study examines corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR) structures through a comparison of the disclosures in two countries with different social issues. The analysis is guided by a focus on the legitimisation offered by isomorphism. We compare the 2007 annual report and website (including standalone report) CSRR of a matched sample of 18 Australian and 18 South African mining companies. Among the 30 comparisons of disclosure patterns, 29 show no difference. We also provide examples of specific disclosures that show a remarkable level of similarity in CSRR and in the CSRR management structures adopted in the two countries. Our findings show similar overall patterns of CSRR in diverse settings, while differences in CSRR content at a more detailed level remain. For example, companies refer to the applicable national regulations and rules; as well as to their specific local communities. These findings provide evidence that the same reporting templates are used in CSRR globally. There is evidence to suggest that CSRR is institutionalised through professionalization and other means, suggesting a need to interpret CSRR characteristics and patterns as a reflection of global CSRR templates. Management intent or company-specific characteristics, such as social and environmental performance, do not necessarily drive CSRR patterns.
This article suggests that when the phenomenon of standards and standardisation is examined from the perspective of organisation studies three aspects stand out: the standardisation of organisations, standardisation by organisations, and standardisation as (a form of) organisation. Following a comprehensive overview of existing research in these three areas, we argue that the dynamic aspects of standardisation are underrepresented in the scholarly discourse. Furthermore, we identify the main types of tension associated with standardisation and the dynamics they generate in each of those three areas, and show that, while standards and standardisation are typically associated with stability and sameness, they are essentially a dynamic phenomenon. The article highlights the contributions of this special issue to the topic of standards as a dynamic phenomenon in organisation studies and makes suggestions for future research.
This study illuminates how new markets emerge and how social movements can effect cultural change through market creation. We suggest that social movements can fuel solutions to three challenges in creating new market segments: entrepreneurial production, the creation of collective producer identities, and the establishment of regular exchange between producers and consumers. We use qualitative data on the grassroots coalition movement that has spurred a market for grass-fed meat and dairy products in the United States since the early 1990s. Our analysis shows that the movement's participants mobilized broad cultural codes and that these codes motivated producers to enter and persist in a nascent market, shaped their choices about production and exchange technologies, enabled a collective identity, and formed the basis of the products' exchange value.
In the field of global rule-setting for responsible business behaviour, multi-stakeholder standards have emerged in recent years because of their potential for effective consensus-building, knowledge-sharing and interest representation. Proponents also hold that multi-stakeholder standards could address problems related to other forms of global rule-setting for business. Despite alleged advantages, however, analyses of multi-stakeholder initiatives, considering benefits and drawbacks, have been lacking. This article examines multi-stakeholder standards compared to other collaborative standards adopted in the past decade, and focuses subsequently on the peculiarities of multi-stakeholder standards regarding participation, governance and implementation. Multi-stakeholder standards, which involve business and NGOs, and sometimes also governments, are more specific and well-elaborated than other types of standards. But monitoring and implementation are rarely used as means for increasing participation from multiple stakeholders, including most notably those from developing countries. The paper also discusses the implications of the current lack of specificity of the (multi-)stakeholder concept and suggests refinement of multi-stakeholder standards in terms of narrow versus broad inclusiveness.
This paper investigates the extent to which certification auditing can contribute to the realization of organizational accountability for sustainable development. A theoretical framework based on a critical analysis of financial and ISO auditing practices is proposed to shed light on the misconceptions, paradoxes and rational myths underlying the institutionalization of auditing practices in the area of corporate sustainability. As such, this paper casts doubt on the imagery of impartiality, rigor and accountability projected by organizations through discourses of certification. It also illustrates the pertinence of studying the auditing function from a cross-disciplinary viewpoint, and of paying attention to the processes by which auditing travels from one discipline to another. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Urban population has been increasing and it is estimated to reach 70% of the total population in the world by 2050. Governments are facing greater challenges every time in providing inhabitants with a good quality of life in their cities. Many cities around the world have developed sustainable urban development plans for leading their urbanization process towards a desired status of urban sustainability. Urban sustainability indicators have been selected as main elements for communicating the status of the practice, which help to determine how successful strategies and policies enforced have been in the attainment of sustainability goals. Different practices use different indicators according to their particular needs, and these have been selected under different methods. However, whilst there are cases where urban sustainability indicators are effectively in use, the experiences gained from each practice have not been shared and used for the development of new urban development plans and for improving the decision-making process in the selection of indicators. This paper examines 9 different practices and proposes a comparative basis, namely, International Urban Sustainability Indicators List (IUSIL), for allowing the better understanding of drivers and goals of each practice and identifying under what circumstances various practices selected their indicators. Discussions made on the comparative analysis are categorized in four different dimensions: environmental, economic, social and governance. Research results show how comparative basis can lead to knowledge sharing between different practices, which can be used to guide the selection of indicators of sustainable urbanization plans and improve the effective communication of the status of practices. The study not only reveals how different indicators are selected but also suggests the need for consistent processes of choosing indicators based on the benchmarks obtained from best practices.
In the absence of effective national and intergovernmental regulation to ameliorate global envir-onmental and social problems, ''private'' alternatives have proliferated including self-regulation, corporate social responsibility, and public–private partnerships. Among them, ''non-state market driven'' (NSMD) governance systems deserve elevated attention because they offer the strongest regulation and potential to socially embed global markets. NSMD systems encourage compli-ance by recognizing and tracking, along the market's supply chain, responsibly produced goods and services. They aim to establish ''political legitimacy'' whereby firms, social actors, and stakeholders are united into a community that accepts ''shared rule as appropriate and justi-fied.'' Drawing inductively on evidence from a range of NSMD systems, and deductively on theories of institutions and learning, we develop an analytical framework and a preliminary set of causal propositions to explicate whether and how political legitimacy might be achieved. The framework corrects existing literatures' inattention to the conditioning effects of global social structure and its tendency to treat actor evaluations of NSMD systems as static and stra-tegic. It identifies a three-phase process through which NSMD systems might gain political legitimacy. It posits that a ''logic of consequences'' alone cannot explain actor evaluations: the explanation requires greater reference to a ''logic of appropriateness'' as systems progress through the phases. The framework aims to guide future empirical work to assess the potential of NSMD systems to socially embed global markets.
In this paper, we investigate the role of key industry and other stakeholders and their embeddedness in particular national contexts in driving the proliferation and co-evolution of sustainability standards, based on the case of the global coffee industry. We find that institutional conditions and market opportunity structures in consuming countries have been important sources of standards variation, for example in the cases of Fairtrade, UTZ Certified and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C). In turn, supplier structures in producing countries as well as their linkages with traders and buyers targeting particular consuming countries have been key mechanisms of standards transmission and selection. Unlike prior research, which has emphasized the role of global actors and structures in promoting – and hindering – sustainability initiatives, we argue that national economic and institutional conditions in consuming and producing countries have not only served as important drivers of standards multiplicity and co-evolution, but also as catalysts for the entire global sustainability movement.
This article assesses the proliferation of international accountability standards (IAS) in the recent past. We provide a comprehensive overview about the different types of standards and discus their role as part of a new institutional infrastructure for corporate responsibility. Based on this, it is argued that IAS can advance corporate responsibility on a global level because they contribute to the closure of some omnipresent governance gaps. IAS also improve the preparedness of an organization to give an explanation and a justification to relevant stakeholders for its judgments, intentions, acts and omissions when appropriately called upon to do so. However, IAS also face a variety of problems impeding their potential to help address social and environmental issues. The contribution of the four articles in this Special Issue is discussed in the context of standards’ problems and opportunities to foster corporate responsibility. The article closes by outlining a research agenda to further develop and extend the scholarly debate around IAS.
The growing number of voluntary standards for governing transnational arenas is presenting standards organizations with a problem. While claiming that they are pursuing shared, overarching objectives, at the same time, they are promoting their own respective standards that are increasingly similar. By developing the notion of ‘standards markets,’ this paper examines this tension and studies how different social movement and industry-driven standards organizations compete as well as collaborate over governance in transnational arenas. Based on an in-depth case study of sustainability standards in the global coffee industry, we find that the ongoing co-existence of multiple standards is being promoted by the interplay between two countervailing mechanisms: convergence and differentiation. In conjunction, these mechanisms are enabling the emergence and persistence of a market for standards through what we describe as meta-standardization of sustainable practices. Meta-standardization leads to convergence at the ‘rules of the game’ level, but allows also differentiation at the attributes level, which is enabling parties to create and maintain their own standards. Our study helps to advance the understanding of transnational governance by explaining the dynamics of competing and collaborating non-state actors in constituting a standards market.
This paper reveals the author's theory of method for conducting longitudinal field research on change. The paper also discusses a range of practical problems in carrying out time-series research in organisational settings. The practical problems include dealing with time in longitudinal research; issues of site selection, choices about data collection and degrees of involvement the importance of clarifying research outputs. audience and presentation; and finally handling problems of complexity and simplicity associated with longitudinal comparative case study research on change. The paper concludes by discussing some ethical issues of longitudinal research field research, and managing a community of researchers.
What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization
and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and
the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises:
rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to
change them. We describe three isomorphic processes--coercive, mimetic, and
normative-leading to this outcome. We then specib hypotheses about the impact of
resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty,
and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest
implications for theories of organizations and social change.
Global regulations, such as social and environmental standards, often result from project-based multi-stakeholder initiatives. Many initiatives fail because key stakeholders cannot be mobilized, or partners are incapable of establishing common ground. We show that local development projects aimed at testing and implementing new practices at the local level and strategically coordinated project networks linking local projects and project partners together across national boundaries can facilitate global institution-building. Based on a longitudinal case study of the emergence of the Common Code for the Coffee Community, we develop a process model of global standard development and discuss in particular the importance of global project networks as intermediary organizational forms. We inform research on global standard development and institution-building, and project-based learning and coordination across national boundaries.
- This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
This article focuses on the organizational factors of environmental sustainability implementation in local government. We investigate the interactions, as well as direct and indirect impacts, of the framing of environmental sustainability and organizational culture and structure on implementation outcomes. We use a survey of 217 city/county planners and managers in 146 randomly selected American mid-sized cities and counties. The survey was specifically designed to tease out organizational features and their impacts. We model these impacts using structural equation modeling. We find that horizontally and vertically integrated organizational structure supports two essential dimensions of organizational culture: innovation adoption and consensus building. These cultural traits positively impact the framing of environmental sustainability at the core of organizations’ logic, which in turn significantly supports implementation outcomes. These findings provide important insights into city/county managers seeking to promote sustainability, and provide a base for future studies of the organizational factors of implementation.
Some efforts to assess sustainability on the urban scale have been made and different tools for measuring the impact on and caused by cities have emerged. However, the sustainability concept varies from region to region, and indicators to measure it should be suitable for the context-specific conditions of the region under study. After doing a comprehensive review of the indicators included in 13 tools developed to assess urban sustainability of cities, this article proposes a new structure of indicators adapted to a Mediterranean city in Spain. The proposed structure is based on a two-level scheme that consists in 14 categories and 63 subcategories, which agglutinate urban sustainability indicators according to their purpose. This structure suggests a set of comprehensible qualitative and quantitative indicators that are easily applicable on neighbourhood or city scales. Given the similar features of Mediterranean countries in terms of environmental and socio-economic aspects, the proposed structure could be extrapolated to other countries with climatic and cultural similarities. Otherwise, the system is a useful tool in the decision-making process to help the different stakeholders involved in new urban developments and regeneration projects in existing neighbourhoods, such as developers, urban planners and public administrations.
This article induces a model of the evolving rhetoric and reality of total quality management (TQM) in five organizations to show how institutional forces can distort the technical reality of TQM. Using interviews, organizational documents, and observation, I follow the social construction of TQM in these organizations to trace the relationship between the technical practices and rhetoric of TQM. The model shows that managers consume a rhetoric of success about TQM, use that rhetoric to develop their TQM program, and then filter their experiences to present their own rhetoric of success. Consequently, the discourse on TQM develops an overly optimistic view of TQM. The models demonstrate how individual actions and discourse shape TQM and fuel institutional forces.
PART ONE: CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN THE USE OF QUALITATIVE METHODS The Nature of Qualitative Inquiry Strategic Themes in Qualitative Methods Variety in Qualitative Inquiry Theoretical Orientations Particularly Appropriate Qualitative Applications PART TWO: QUALITATIVE DESIGNS AND DATA COLLECTION Designing Qualitative Studies Fieldwork Strategies and Observation Methods Qualitative Interviewing PART THREE: ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, AND REPORTING Qualitative Analysis and Interpretation Enhancing the Quality and Credibility of Qualitative Analysis
This paper contributes to research into environmental certification schemes in the hospitality industry, by discussing three objectives of such schemes: (1) promote the implementation of sustainability practices in the hospitality industry; (2) increase profitability; and (3) provide more accurate information to guests. This paper provides a first insight into the perception of managers towards certification schemes. Interviews with 21 London managers from a range of star-rated hotels, and an analysis of 196 websites of London hotels, indicates that these objectives are not all achieved. It is discussed how certification schemes provide knowledge to hoteliers and helps against claims of ‘greenwash’. The effect of certifications on profitability, however, is questioned, and due to limited communication of certifications by hotels, certifications are failing to provide guests with more accurate information. Implications, recommendations and limitations of the research are discussed.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOS) both lobby states and work within and across societies to advance their interests. These latter efforts are generally ignored by students of world politics because they do not directly involve governments. A study of transnational environmental activist groups (TEAGs) such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and World Wildlife Fund demonstrates that NGO societal efforts indeed shape widespread behavior throughout the world. TEAGs work through transnational social, economic, and cultural networks to shift standards of good conduct, change corporate practices, and empower local communities. This type of practice involves “world civic politics.” That is, TEAGs influence widespread behavior by politicizing global civil society—that slice of collective life which exists above the individual and below the state yet across national boundaries. This article examines the activity of world civic politics as practiced by environmental activists and evaluates its relevance for the study of NGOs and world politics in general.
In this article, we respond to calls by previous researchers to clarify the function of decentralized institutions by analyzing the strategic motives of individual actors. We investigated an important type of decentralized institution, certified management standards, and theorized that firms use these institutions to reduce problems that might arise with exchange partners that lack information or fear opportunism. We tested this theory using the pattern of certification with the ISO 14001 management standard.
Standards are receiving increasing attention, especially at the transnational level where standardization aims at coherence and social ordering beyond the nation-state. However, many attempts to bring about uniformity via formalized standards fail. To understand better how such rules successfully span national and organizational boundaries over time, we compare two cases of standardization in international business. Both Windows desktop software and International Accounting Standards demonstrate the need for a process perspective to understand and explain social ordering through standards. Long-lasting standardization processes require conceptualizing how different sequences of transnational standardization relate to each other. We find that at the core of such recursive cycles is the interplay of input and output legitimacy.
This exploratory paper investigates the concept of a natural inventory. Three stages are envisaged. In stage one, an organization's acreage and habitats would be established and one of six levels of natural inventory undertaken. In the second stage, the organization's non-critical habitats would be valued either at a market or at an amenity valuation, complemented by an ecological grading. Finally in stage three, the results would be aggregated and published in summary form in the organization's annual report. Levels 1, 2 and 5 of natural inventory are applied to an actual real-world organization. Further research is called for to apply the concept to a large land-owning corporation and to involve accountants in the preparation and, particularly, in the communication of the results.
This article argues that sustainability should define the conceptual focus for the field of public administration in the coming decade. Sustainability involves three systems: environmental, economic, and political/social systems. The challenge of governance, and thus of public administration, is to sustain each of these systems on its own while maintaining an appropriate balance among them. The article defines the sustainability concept, and its environmental component in particular, in ways that are relevant to public administration; assesses the validity of the concept in terms of the interrelationships and interdependencies among the three systems; and suggests the implications for the field. By integrating knowledge and study of the environmental system with the traditional competence in the political/social and economic systems that is expected in the field, public administrators may achieve a more theoretically complete and empirically valid foundation for education, research, and practice.
And just as many apparently insoluble problems have eluded solution until someone discovered the “right” way to view them, so it may be that our failure to cope adequately with certain large and complex problems of our time is a consequence of failure to see the unifying elements in the complexity.
—Lynton K. Caldwell, 1963
Standards and standardization aim to render the world equivalent across cultures, time, and geography. Standards are ubiquitous but underappreciated tools for regulating and organizing social life in modernity, and they lurk in the background of many sociological works. Reviewing the relevance of standards and standardization in diverse theoretical traditions and sociological subfields, we point to the emergence and institutionalization of standards, the difficulties of making standards work, resistance to standardization, and the multiple outcomes of standards. Rather than associating standardization with totalizing narratives of globalization or dehumanization, we call for careful empirical analysis of the specific and unintended consequences of different sorts of standards operating in distinct social domains.
We have seen a worldwide increase in new nonstate, multi-stakeholder organizations setting standards for socially and environmentally responsible behavior. These standard-setting arenas offer new channels for political participation for NGOs. Scholars have drawn attention to the rise and the role of NGOs in global politics, but there is less research on the power and long-term implications of NGO participation in transnational multi-stakeholder standard-setting. This article analyzes NGOs within three such global organizations: the Forest Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the International Organization for Standardization on Social Responsibility. Using a power-based perspective, we demonstrate the impact that NGOs can have on multi-stakeholder work. In doing so, we analyze four types of NGO power: symbolic, cognitive, social, and monitoring power. The article further emphasizes institutional, structural, and discursive factors within multi-stakeholder organizations that create certain challenges to NGO power and participation in the longer term. (c) 2010 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Purpose
The primary aim of this paper is to develop a reference model for measuring corporate sustainability that can be used by organizations to integrate sustainability measures into their current performance measurement system, helping them to embed sustainability into daily activities and to forge a sustainability culture. A secondary intent is to present a critical analysis of some well‐known sustainability measurement initiatives, showing their strengths and shortcomings.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach employed to develop the reference model described in this paper is a qualitative analysis of the complementarity, shortcomings and strengths of eight well‐known sustainability measurement initiatives alongside an extant corporate sustainability literature review.
Findings
The research carried out has found that there is not a single initiative analyzed that tackles all sustainability issues and in fact there is no consensus around what should be measured and how. The main divergences are related to the following aspects: different criteria are applied by the initiatives to classify issues between dimensions; same impacts are evaluated at different levels of a cause‐effect relationship continuum by the same initiative; disagreement about the groups of stakeholders a company should engage and assessing the company impacts that should be taken into account (direct only or those of its whole value chain). Moreover, the way in which most initiatives measure sustainability performance is not the most adequate to embed it into the performance measurement systems, since they evaluate sustainability via presence of management practice and employ absolute values indicators rather than result‐oriented measures and ratio indicators that are more adequate for internal decision making. In this context, a sustainability measurement model was developed that is more comprehensive, objective and value‐oriented, constituting an attempt to shed light on these problems.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation is the fact that the proposed model does not provide any guidance to select the sustainability key issues for an organization to be integrated into its current performance measurement system. It mainly provides a very comprehensive set of sustainability issues and measures that could be used.
Originality/value
This paper sheds light on some sustainability measurement current challenges – lack of consensus of what should be measured and how – and sustainability embedment into daily activities. Academics will find it useful in their research efforts since it presents a broad review of sustainability concepts as well as an analysis of strengths and shortcomings of all and each sustainability initiative focused. Practitioners will also find it useful as a tool to better understand the sustainability concept, to start measuring sustainability performance, to integrate it in, as well as to evaluate, their current performance measurement systems.
This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies-from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
Sustainable development indicators (SDIs) are one of the most frequently used tools to assess sustainable development from an international to a local scale, supporting evaluation and reporting purposes. Indicators can also be particularly useful in addressing the growing need for interaction at regional and local scale in sustainability initiatives and assuring that regional assessments reflect community values, concerns and hopes. The main goal of this research is to develop a conceptual framework for common local sustainability indicators within a regional context, one that is supported by a participative approach and allows interaction between local and regional scales. Other major goals were to design the regional profile on local SDI initiatives and develop a set of common local indicators for the Algarve region – the most southerly region of Portugal. The framework is mainly supported on common strategic goals, objectives, targets, features and resources and on the existing regional and local SDI sets. A regional survey involving all municipalities was conducted to obtain data on local SDI initiatives and the regional profile was defined. By testing the framework in the Algarve, a proposed set of common local indicators was developed and presented in the survey for local authority evaluation. The main findings reveal that, despite the fact that there are still few local SDI initiatives in the Algarve region, the majority of municipalities surveyed fully agree on the importance of developing a minimum common local indicator set for the region. The role and usefulness of the proposed framework were demonstrated in the selection of 20 common local indicators for local–regional scale interaction in the Algarve. Establishing a set of common indicators on a local spatial scale can contribute to providing a coherent assessment framework, by preventing the duplication of effort, allowing local sustainability benchmarking and enhancing the analyses of asymmetries within a region.
This study examines cooperative standard setting in wireless telecommunications. Focusing on the competition among firms to influence formal standardization, the roles of standard-setting committees, private alliances, and industry consortia are highlighted. The empirical context is Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an international standards-development organization in the wireless telecommunication industry. Panel data analyses exploiting natural experiments caused by a consortium merger and entry of Asian firms suggest that participation in industry consortia increases firms' contributions to the development of new technical specifications in 3GPP committees. Moreover, connections to standard-setting peers formed in consortia facilitate change requests to ongoing specifications. These results suggest that if firms in network technology industries want to influence the evolution of their industry, they should identify both formal standard-setting committees and industry consortia in which they can discuss, negotiate, and align positions on technical features with their peers. For policymakers, these results suggest that it is important to ensure that technical consortia remain open for all industry actors and that membership fees do not become prohibitive to small and resource-constrained players.
ABSTRACT : This study examines cooperative standard-setting in wireless telecommunications. Focusing on the competition among firms to influence formal standardization, the roles of standard-setting committees, private alliances, and technical consortia are highlighted. The empirical context is Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an international standards development organization. Panel data analyses suggest that participation in external technical consortia significantly enhance firms’ contributions to the development of new specifications in 3GPP committees. Then, once a firm has become a central player in technical committees, it can further influence the standard-setting outcome through change requests to ongoing specifications. External alliances with fellow 3GPP members may also improve change request success. These results suggest that if firms in network technological industries want to influence the evolution of their industry, they should identify both formal standard-setting committees and external cooperative arrangements in which they can discuss, negotiate, and align positions on technical features with their peers. For policymakers, these results suggest that it is important to ensure that technical consortia remain open for all industry actors and that membership fees do not become prohibitive to small and resource-constraint players.
Contesting Legitimacy of Voluntary Sustainability Certification Schemes: Valuation Languages and Power Asymmetries in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in Colombia
- V Marin-Burgos
- J S Clancy
- J C Lovett
Marin-Burgos, V., J. S. Clancy, and J. C. Lovett. 2015. "Contesting Legitimacy of Voluntary
Sustainability Certification Schemes: Valuation Languages and Power Asymmetries in the
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in Colombia." Ecological Economics 117: 303-313.
doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.04.011.
The Dynamic of Standardization: Three Perspectives on Standards in Organization Studies
- N Brunnson
- A Rasche
- D Seidl
Brunnson, N., A. Rasche, and D. Seidl. 2012. "The Dynamic of Standardization: Three Perspectives on
Standards in Organization Studies." Organization Studies 33 (5-6): 613-632. doi:10.1177/
0170840612450120.
Sector Supplement for Public Agencies. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative
- Global Reporting Initiative
Qualitative Reasoning
- J Mason
Mason, J. 1996. Qualitative Reasoning. London: Sage.
The Sustainability Balanced Scorecard-Theory and Application of a Tool for Value-Based Sustainability Management.” Paper presented at the Greening of Industry Network Conference
- F H Figge
- T Schalegger
- S M Wagner