Toward a theory of corporate sustainability: A theoretical integration and exploration

Abstract

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd To fill in a gap in the corporate sustainability literature, the present study proposes an integrated theory of corporate sustainability. It starts by integrating relevant theoretical and empirical literature into a coherent theory of corporate sustainability asserting that the sustainability organizational culture comprising sustainability vision and values leads to emotional commitment among organizational members to attain the vision. They espouse five corporate sustainability practices of Perseverance, Resilience Development, Moderation, Geosocial Development and Sharing to enhance corporate sustainability prospect. To ensure the proposed theory's external validity and practicality, a qualitative case study is conducted to explore its core theoretical propositions and to detect possible anomalies. Managerial implications and directions for future theoretical refinement are also discussed.