Proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance: the mediating effect of sustainability control systems

Chaminda Wijethilake*, Rahat Munir, Ranjith Appuhami

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

231 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study examines to what extent corporations use sustainability control systems (SCS) to translate proactive sustainability strategy into corporate sustainability performance. The study investigates the mediating effect of SCS on the relationship between proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance. Survey data were collected from top managers in 175 multinational and local corporations operating in Sri Lanka and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). SCS were observed to only partially mediate the relationship between proactive sustainability strategy and corporate sustainability performance. The mediating effect of SCS is further examined under three sustainability strategies; environmental and social strategies reveal a partial mediation, while the economic strategy exhibits no mediation. The study also finds that (i) a proactive sustainability strategy is positively associated with SCS and corporate sustainability performance and (ii) SCS are positively associated with corporate sustainability performance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)569-582
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Environmental Management
Volume196
Early online date25 Mar 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2017

Bibliographical note

A corrigendum to this article can be found at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.07.008

Keywords

  • Corporate sustainability performance
  • Proactive sustainability strategy
  • Sustainability control systems

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