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The study aims to examine how the vicious circle of blame for sustainable buildings can be turned into virtuous loops of adaptation when considering sustainable buildings and what are the drivers for tenants and investors regarding sustainable buildings and gaining insights of investors’ and tenants’ corporate responsibility (CR) actions.

The paper consists of a literature review and two surveys. The literature review concentrates on exploring investors’ and tenants’ CR and sustainability drivers. Empirical evidence was gathered via two specific surveys. The first survey targeted investors, and the second survey targeted tenants to determine the focus areas of sustainability.

The findings of this study indicate that the vicious circle of blame can be turned into one of cooperation with respect to sustainable buildings if the mutual drivers for improving sustainability are linked with investor–tenant collaboration. Based on the survey, the tenants claim that productivity, corporate culture and image are the primary drivers for sustainable buildings, whereas the investors claim that corporate culture and image, tenant demand and marketability are the primary drivers. Both parties mentioned the same sustainability drivers: corporate culture and image and lower operating costs. However, it was found that investors are not communicating their CR actions to public or promoting image and productivity benefits of green buildings to potential tenants.

The limitation of this study is the sampling of Nordic countries, as there are indications of different situation in other markets such as the USA.

Improving sustainability in the real estate industry is linked to investor–tenant collaboration. In addition to common drivers, both investors and tenants have their own list of benefits and drivers for sustainable buildings. These drivers are linked to each other. Making progress with respect to sustainability in the built environment depends on people in the industry being aware of the importance of and possibilities offered by sustainable buildings, as well as being able and willing to act on this knowledge. Only through partnership can the full potential of the built environment be realised and help deliver an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable future.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers encounter while embedding social sustainability practices.

This study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 46 owners and managers from 33 multi-tier apparel suppliers in Bangladesh, an important outsourcing hub for the global apparel industry. To corroborate research findings, the views of owners and managers were triangulated by further interviewing 11 key representatives of institutional actors such as third-party auditors, a donor agency, industry associations, regulatory agencies and a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

The authors' findings suggest a range of divergent institutional drivers and barriers – coercive, mimetic and normative – that determine the implementation of multi-tier suppliers' social sustainability practices. The key reported drivers were buyers' requirements, external stakeholders' expectations, top management commitment and competition. Conversely, cost and resource concerns and gaps in the regulatory framework were identified as key social sustainability implementation barriers. In particular, owners and managers of second-tier and third-tier supplier firms experienced more internal barriers such as cost and resource concerns than external barriers such as gaps in values, learning and commitment (i.e. compromise for mutual benefit and non-disclosure of non-compliance) that impeded effective social sustainability implementation.

Social sustainability in supply chain management has received significant attention from academics, business practitioners, governments, NGOs and supranational organisations. However, limited attention has been paid to investigating the drivers and barriers for social sustainability implementation from a developing country's multi-tier supplier perspective. The authors' research has addressed this knowledge gap.

The evidence from the authors' study provides robust support for key assumptions of institutional theory and has useful implications for both managers and policy-makers.

The authors' study contributes to the embryonic research stream of socially sustainable multi-tier supply chain management by connecting it to the application of institutional theory in a challenging institutional context.

For sustainable strategies to be developed in business schools, it is essential to understand which sustainability drivers and barriers are identified by academic managers and coordinators in the implementation of sustainable practices. In this scenario, the study aims to understand the barriers and possible drivers for the implementation of sustainability practices in Brazilian business schools. The subjects are managers and coordinators of business schools that are part of the Principles for Responsible Executive Education Network – Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Chapter Brazil/UN.

Descriptive research with a qualitative approach was conducted to achieve this objective. The study included academic managers, responsible for the general management of academic and administrative activities and coordinators, responsible for supervising and coordinating academic activities in a specific area, of schools that are part of PRME Chapter Brazil (interviews). For data analysis, the content analysis technique was used.

Taking into account the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) as categories of analysis, as well as management, curriculum and teaching as subcategories, the study identified 10 barriers and 12 drivers.

The results reveal that both the barriers and the drivers are supported by the social pillar, which focuses on the academic community and society as a whole. The “Management” subcategory was also the most mentioned, indicating guidelines for the strategic academic management of these organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to provide managers with suitable strategic KPIs in decision-making processes, which aim to integrate the environmental dimension of sustainability at a business level in manufacturing organisations.

In view of the research proposal addressed, semi-structured interviews were conducted, based on theoretical milestones of the performance management system (PMS), with 48 managers that work in Italian manufacturing firms and specialise in green practices.

The authors developed a novel environmentally performed framework to adequately integrate environmental value drivers at a strategic level.

The resulting issues addressed in this paper, and their integration in the business strategy for managing environmental complexity, allows contributing, firstly, to the existing literature by suggesting the relevant key value drivers that need to be mostly studied from an accounting point of view. In addition, from these results, though their experience managers will have up-to-date key measures that could, in the future, help the integration process between the environmental aspect of the sustainability dimension and the PMS.

The results generate a robust roadmap for future analysis in this research field. Accordingly, the paper engenders a strategic alignment in the green transition process, providing scholars and practitioners with a clear view of the key sustainable drivers, metrics and potential solutions that have not been addressed to date.

This study aims to understand how businesses can contribute to the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) by implementing Local Agenda 21 (or equivalent) plans in partnership with other organizations situated in their city. To this end, the present study examines drivers and outcomes from the perspective of business partners, as well as their relationships to the SDGs.

Through a mixed-methods approach this research studies 71 businesses from four large cross-sector partnerships formed to achieve local sustainability goals. Data were collected through a survey to determine why firms partner and what outcomes they obtain from partnering. Qualitative content analyses are used to determine the relationships between business drivers and outcomes from partnering for local sustainability and the SDGs.

From a resource-based view (RBV) perspective, findings show the value of local sustainability partnerships in relation to the SDGs. Many SDG targets are aligned with the top reasons why businesses join large community sustainability partnerships. Also, through the outcomes achieved by participating in the partnership businesses can further the SDGs.

This research contributes to the literature and to practice through the understanding of businesses partnering for local sustainability, and its relationships to global sustainability. Firstly, the connections of business partners to local and global sustainability are better understood. Of note is the contribution made to the literature on sustainability-related drivers and outcomes expanding and refining RBV literature. Secondly, a positive connection has been established between businesses and the SDGs, proposing a virtuous model of relationship that summarizes the findings from this research. And thirdly, large cross-sector social partnerships are better understood.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations with local offices can further both local and global sustainable development by engaging in local cross-sector sustainability partnerships.

These research findings are crucial for those leading sustainability initiatives, so they can engage businesses actively in light of the important role they play in society improving their contributions and the chances for sustainability partnerships to achieve their goals.

This research contributes to the scale conversation by exploring community sustainability partnerships as a means to understand how business engagement in sustainability at the local level can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and, ultimately, to global sustainability.

This research examines what key performance indicators (KPIs) and drivers should be applied at the post-contract phase of construction development to monitor and drive project outcomes in sustainable design and construction. It supplements the previous research which focuses on pre-contract sustainable procurement of competent professionals. Consequently, optimal sustainability can be achieved for the overall sustainable development process.

A review of empirical work was conducted to consolidate the holistic aspects of sustainability that should be considered for design and construction and their project outcome KPI measures. Based on a country-wide questionnaire survey of the university estate sector in the UK, a quantitative hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to identify the performance drivers for those KPIs.

The empirical work review demonstrates that holistic sustainability for development can be measured by project outcome KPIs: economic sustainability by cost KPIs; functional, social and environmental sustainability by quality KPIs. The quantitative hierarchical regression analysis confirmed that these four aspects of sustainability could be significantly driven by task performance and contextual performance drivers, as supported by the job performance theory.

The investigation was undertaken within the context of university estates forming a unique public sector in the UK. The findings form a baseline upon which further research can be conducted in other organisations in the wider public and private sectors. Ultimately, holistic sustainability can be fully driven by construction professionals to achieve government and corporate construction strategy for the benefits of sustainable built environment.

The findings inform project managers and construction professionals that they should apply clear, measurable cost and quality KPIs and focus on significant performance drivers in tandem to drive holistic sustainability for design and construction. Project staff should have a high commitment, technical expertise and experience, execute the project with proper design and management methods and provide a high level of trust and collaboration to the client. Clients, designers and contractors are key stakeholders in the development process so they should be consulted for forming the contract KPIs to monitor the sustainable project outcomes.

The generalised results confirm that task and contextual performance drivers can be applied as project management tools for managing the professional team members to achieve sustainability deliverables in terms of KPIs. Such findings will enhance the government or corporate construction strategy for managing and achieving holistic sustainability for construction developments.

This research identifies post-contract performance monitoring measures (cost and quality KPIs as well as task and contextual performance drivers) that can be adopted for driving sustainable design and construction for sustainable development.

The paper presents the findings of research into the barriers to and drivers of environmentally sustainable policies and practices (ESPPs) in the Australian hotel industry. This study aims to explore these drivers and barriers from the perspective of hotel managers and involve a range of hotels with different hotel industry profiles and management structures.

The study conducted one-on-one interviews with hotel managers to explore the barriers to and drivers of ESPPs. The purpose of the sample and sample size was to ensure representation of different segments of the hotel industry to include international chain affiliated hotels, Australian chain affiliated hotels and independent hotels.

An analysis of the findings suggests that the major barriers to implementing and sustaining environmental sustainability in the Australian hotel industry are time, financial challenges, availability of resources and the views and imperatives of hotel owners and shareholders. The major drivers are financial, marketing, owner and shareholder interests and guest preferences. These stakeholders play a major role in creating both barriers and drivers.

Based on the results, this study can modify the application of stakeholder theory to a degree and argue that stakeholders need to co-operate further to drive sustainability. This study demonstrates that management of environmental sustainability is a challenge for many hotels and there is a particular need for small and independent hotels to embrace environmental sustainability to keep pace with their larger counterparts.

This study is broadly informed by the stakeholder theory. Owners, shareholders and associated stakeholders have a significant influence over environmental sustainability in the Australian hotel industry and they create both drivers and barriers. Responses from hotel managers in this research demonstrate that owners act as a barrier to as well as a driver of environmental sustainability initiatives in the Australian hotel industry.

The study aims to identify the potential drivers of big data analytics (BDA) practices in the supply chain and develop a sustainability evaluation model to evaluate drivers of big data for sustainability development.

The mixed-method approach was applied to assess sustainability dimensions and calculate the score using two phases. In Phase I, the BDA drivers in the e-commerce industry were finalised using the partial least square based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method. In Phase II, a case study in the Indian fashion e-commerce industry was carried out to evaluate sustainability dimensions with respect to drivers of BDA and the sustainability score was calculated using the fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method.

The index for economic sustainability (0.220), social sustainability (0.142) and environmental sustainability (0.182) were derived. The higher index value of economic sustainability compared to social sustainability and environmental sustainability signified those drivers of big data bring social and environmental uncertainty along with economic sustainability.

The study will help practitioners promote BDA use for developing environmental/social/economic sustainability in supply chains. Policymakers must ensure whether the integration of BDA practices brings down cost and brings strategic value for ensuring big data success. The study will help managers decide a constant trade-off between the requirement for social, environmental and economic performance.

The study corroborates and adds to the BDA literature by emphasising the positive role of BDA in sustainability development in the supply chain area and highlighting the significant role of different drivers of BDA in sustainability development.

Sustainability is increasingly at the forefront of the public debate in Europe and the world. However, despite this increased interest, research seems to have partially ignored the importance of its social dimension and the issues related to social equity, people care, protection and personal development at all stages of society and, consequently, of business. Accordingly, this paper aims at investigating the “soft” dimensions of sustainability, integrating its mainstream “technical storyline” with a “human/social storyline”.

In this paper a taxonomy of the main key drivers of the soft dimension of sustainability is proposed and tested on a sample of Italian companies. Through interviews with their managers, actions and needs in terms of sustainability soft drivers are identified.

The achieved results demonstrated that the case companies differently integrated the soft dimensions of sustainability within their companies. All the sample companies are aware of the role of social sustainability. According to the proposed taxonomy, the systemic drivers of soft sustainability are the main shared ones.

The paper provides new insights into the essence of the organizational soft dimensions and their centrality in the overall achievement of sustainability for companies. It also offers managerial insights into how to effectively manage these dimensions and policy implications about the need for clearer consideration.

Taking into account retailers' critical position in the value chain, their sector's economic significance and environmental externalities, in addition to the institutional agenda, this paper aims to explore the drivers influencing retailers to shift to more sustainable business models.

The paper utilises the institutional competing logic, including in-depth interviews with major supermarket retail chains and one expert group discussion. The data gathered in Germany and Lithuania were complemented by desk research analysis, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and management reports.

The paper provides empirical insights into how multiple drivers through institutional competing logic are brought about influencing the shift to more sustainable business models. The results show that retail chains in both countries implement their sustainability based on triple environmental-legal-financial drivers. However, different types of retail chains–namely premium retailers, typical retailers and discounters–implement their sustainability discourse differently.

Because of the chosen research approach, the results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

Interestingly, retailers “shift” their responsibility to the consumers rather than encourage themselves to make more sustainable choices. The authors observe a more passive and responsive role of retailing chains because of the inherent trade-off between revenue growth and sustainable consumption.

The original contribution lies in exploring how retail chains adapt institutional competing logic and are influenced by multiple drivers when implementing their sustainability activities. In addition, the authors propose a conceptual model for retailers' sustainability management, as well as formulate three research propositions.