A longitudinal analysis of the knowledge and application of sustainability management tools in large German companies

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

The operationalisation of sustainability on the corporate level is recognised to be a management task and implies the choice and application of management tools. Although researchers have proposed a large number of sustainability management tools in the literature, little is known about their acceptance and implementation. This paper extends the existing literature on the dissemination of tools. It discusses which sustainability management tools are known and applied in practice, and conducts a longitudinal analysis based on three empirical surveys among large German companies carried out in 2002, 2006 and 2010. One important result is that the knowledge and the application of sustainability management tools are positively related. Furthermore, the application of sustainability management tools has increased throughout the period of the surveys. A main conclusion drawn from the empirical results is that increased knowledge, for example through the promotion of approaches and professional education, may be a driver of more frequent application and the dissemination of sustainability management tools, and may foster sustainable development.
Original languageEnglish
JournalSociety and Economy
Volume34
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)549-579
Number of pages31
ISSN1588-9726
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.12.2012

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Strategies and drivers of sustainable business model innovation
  2. Operaismo and The Wicked Problem of Organisation
  3. Richard K. Nelson’s The Island Within
  4. Root-emitted volatile organic compounds:
  5. Local and landscape level variables influence butterfly diversity in critically endangered South African renosterveld
  6. Investigation of food waste valorization through sequential lactic acid fermentative production and anaerobic digestion of fermentation residues
  7. Resonance and reach
  8. Advanced Treatment Technologies for Urban Waste Water Reuse
  9. Global growth and stability of agricultural yield decrease with pollinator dependence
  10. Digital technology in physical education: a systematic review of research from 2009 to 2020
  11. Is there a post-racism?
  12. "Beach Handball"
  13. Commodity Studies with Polanyi
  14. Fictional Inquiry
  15. Dani Bunten Wants to Play
  16. Doing democracy differently
  17. International trade and firm performance: a survey of empirical studies since 2006
  18. Residual stresses of the as-cast Mg-xCa alloys with hot sprues by neutron diffraction
  19. Interrogating the city
  20. Beyond stereotypes
  21. Sekundo 6 plus Arbeitsheft
  22. Prekär wählen, Protest leben! Ein Aufruf zur Neuverkettung
  23. Tapping Environmental Accounting Potentials of Beer Brewing
  24. Continuous pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation of organic residues for the production of biochemicals
  25. A family of exceptional parameters for non-uniform self-similar measures
  26. Effects of a temporary asymmetrical occlusion block on upper body posture
  27. Home range and habitat use by the pacas (Cuniculus paca) in a montane tropical forest in Bolivia
  28. Towards Eco-reflexive Science Education
  29. Den Alltag auffällig machen