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The green supply chain of agricultural products (GSCAP) is a key link for rural revitalization and sustainable development in China. However, it faces various risks from internal and external environments that threaten its performance and stability. This paper proposes a novel framework and system for identifying and evaluating the main risks in the GSCAP from the perspective of agricultural enterprises. The framework combines social network analysis (SNA) and an improved technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. SNA is used to analyze the correlations and influences among different types of risks, while the improved TOPSIS method is used to rank the risks of different GSCAPs and identify the key risks in each supply chain. The framework and system are verified by a case study of CDYBIT, a leading platform of food safety big data service in China. The results show that the supermarket supply chain has the highest risk, followed by the group catering supply chain, and the five‐star hotel supply chain has the lowest risk. The main risk factors for each supply chain are also discussed, and some suggestions for risk management are provided. This paper contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive and systematic risk assessment framework and system for the GSCAP, which can help agricultural enterprises improve their risk awareness and response capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of drivers in the development of eco‐innovation from a system dynamics perspective. While previous literature has made important contributions in identifying factors that influence the development of eco‐innovations, there remains limited understanding of how these drivers act and interact in promoting its development. Therefore, there is a need to develop a framework of relationships and drivers that encourage and support eco‐innovation in companies. This paper develops an integrated framework encompassing key internal, market and governmental factors and their complex interactions using principles of system dynamics and machine learning to address this gap. The research questions how these drivers interact in a dynamic and non‐linear manner to influence the development of eco‐innovation in companies and how can these interactions be effectively modelled and understood, considering the complexities of sustainable business practices and the limitations of traditional linear approaches. We empirically test these questions by using the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel database. The findings demonstrate that eco‐innovation is not solely driven by isolated factors; instead, it emerges from the complex interplay between internal capabilities, governmental policies and market dynamics. By emphasising the synergistic effects of these drivers, the research offers a nuanced understanding of their systemic interactions. Furthermore, our analysis highlights the varying efficiency levels of different drivers, underscoring the pivotal role of environmental corporate policies and the strategic allocation of financial resources. In contrast, cooperation, market forces and regulations exhibit lower efficiency in driving eco‐innovation processes. These insights not only advance theoretical knowledge but also provide valuable guidance for businesses and policymakers, offering a more holistic approach to fostering sustainable innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European countries with plentiful forest resources, novel forest‐based businesses play a key role in the transition from our current fossil‐based economy towards a circular bioeconomy. For example, kraft lignin, a by‐product from the pulping industry, is produced in large amounts globally. To date, however, it is still only offered on the market by a small number of pulping companies. The successful innovation diffusion of related new technologies and businesses requires establishing a collective effort among multiple societal actors to motivate the sharing of value creation processes. In this paper, potential innovation diffusion pathways are modeled and simulated by means of an agent‐based approach (Biorefinery Products Innovation Diffusion model, BioPID). The paper investigates the conditions needed to encourage the diffusion of kraft lignin innovations as a (partial) replacement for fossil‐based feedstock in selected applications. The results reveal the basic mechanisms behind potential innovation diffusion pathways. The major barriers were found to be the high level of uncertainty surrounding the additional costs arising in lignin processing, the small number of lignin providers, and the presence of relatively homogeneous pricing strategies based on opportunity and basic preparation costs. The analysis of two product categories revealed different patterns in terms of innovation diffusion and potential greenhouse gas emissions. A novelty of BioPID is that it allows for iterative technology evaluation and technology foresight analysis of biorefinery projects (e.g., by combining techno‐economic, socio‐technical, and environmental aspects). This produces knowledge for diverse stakeholders involved in the lignin innovation ecosystem, thus enabling better communication on shared values and furthering innovation diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerted effort to reduce ecological damages requires that the role of enterprises should be extended to incorporate environmental issues into their core business objectives. Despite huge developments in sustainable entrepreneurship research, outcomes of sustainable entrepreneurship uptake remain largely unclear. Drawing on data of Chinese firms, and utilizing fixed effects regression, our paper evaluates the conditions under which compliance with environmental regulation may enable or constrain corporate performance. We find that environmental compliance lowers corporate market performance and improves financial performance at the same time. We also find that the decline in market performance is reversed for large and privately owned enterprises, highlighting the role of firm size and ownership in corporate performance. When distinguishing between market‐ and financial performance, our evidence shows that environmental compliance will most likely improve market performance when enterprise carbon intensity level is low and improve financial performance when enterprise carbon intensity level is high. As we have discussed in our paper, these results have several implications from the point of view of managers, firm stakeholders, and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are global aspirations to reach net zero emissions, which triggered the development of standards, guidance and tools to measure and manage climate action across countries, sectors and companies. However, carbon accounting inaccuracies, ambiguous emissions disclosures and unambitious climate targets are hampering these aspirations. This paper reports on the disparity between high‐level guidance and practical implementation of carbon accounting and reporting at company level. By conducting a systematic literature analysis and focussing on the English Water sector, we utilise case study data from Northumbrian Water Limited (NWL), to identify limitations in the current guidance and frameworks. The results indicate the necessity for enhanced alignment in high‐level guidance, particularly regarding the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Science‐Based Target Initiative. It is evident that clarity and consistency from high‐level resources are essential for climate mitigation. This paper shows, depending on the sector and company types, that different benefits are gained from using the available resources. We propose a carbon measurement and management process for the English Water sector (and beyond) to reach net zero targets and make recommendations for decision makers. This helps to understand best practices of carbon accounting and reporting and to make effective investment decisions. Consequently, we advocate for policy interventions to improve the standardisation of carbon accounting models. Harmonising international regulatory frameworks and standards is needed, which will empower organisations to effectively assess, manage and reduce their carbon footprints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, scholars have extensively investigated the topic of leadership, contributing to the development of diverse leadership theories and contemporary managerial practice. However, the emergence and renewed focus on societal grand challenges warrant an alternative approach to leadership such as sustainability leadership. Despite the critical importance of sustainability leadership in addressing these global concerns, scholarly research in this field of inquiry, by and large, remained scant and fragmented, lacking conceptual coherence and theoretical integration. While the existing literature provides insights into sustainability leadership characteristics, competencies, behaviors, and actions, it failed to integrate a holistic understanding of how these aspects are connected and affect each other. Accordingly, the purpose of this review paper is to provide conceptual synthesis and critical appraisal of the extant literature on sustainability leadership. Drawing on a systems theory perspective on paradox, we developed an integrative multilevel sustainability leadership framework, which demonstrates the linkages between individual‐level mechanisms (micro), organizational‐level mechanisms (meso), and societal context (macro). The framework explicates the key underlying mechanisms of sustainability leadership functioning embedded in paradoxical tensions to address complex and multifaceted sustainability issues. The paper concludes by offering implications for research and managerial practice and avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the backbone of the national innovation system, enterprises are the key drivers of economic development and environmental sustainability. However, at the microlevel, research in this area is lacking, as attention is paid on the comprehensive capabilities of top managers, industrial heterogeneity, and heterogeneous green innovation (GI), including inventive innovation and utility innovation. Based on Upper Echelons Theory, this paper constructs a research framework to explore and empirically analyze the specific impact of managerial capacity (MA) of top managers, as "gatekeepers" of enterprise decision‐making, on the heterogeneous enterprise GI, as well as its potential mechanism. Our results shows that (1), overall, MA can significantly promote GI of enterprises. Interestingly, compared with green strategic innovation, managerial capacity has a greater effect on green inventive innovation; (2) based on industrial heterogeneity, in heavy‐polluting industries, managerial capacity is more likely to promote green strategic innovation rather than green inventive innovation; (3) further analysis shows that enterprise value, internal control quality, and financing constraints are important mechanisms; and (4) the moderating effect of external environment shows that to some extent either the regional marketization level or management capabilities can drive GI. This paper has practical implications for policymakers and corporate managers adopting the management heterogeneity perspective and suggests areas for future studies in this field to promote green low‐carbon transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the contribution of the B Corp movement in Europe to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) compared with non‐B Corps. B Corp certification aims to identify organisations that utilise business as 'a force for good', but there is limited empirical evidence on how effectively certified organisations translate their prosocial claims into measurable SDG contributions. We address this through cluster analysis, comparing 313 B Corp‐certified and 1506 non‐certified European companies by way of the SDG Action Manager tool. Our findings reveal three clusters of B Corp‐certified organisations with varying contribution levels across all SDGs, indicating that the certification does not consistently identify organisations with significant SDG impacts. Non‐certified companies, meanwhile, do not exhibit distinct patterns. These results raise doubts about whether the B Corp category identifies a distinctive prototype member that can define clear prosocial norms and practices. The paper contributes to understanding B Corp organisations' narratives by providing insights into their empirical performance compared with non‐certified organisations. It also offers potential explanations for these discrepancies and proposes strategies to strengthen B Corp certification bodies in alignment with the SDGs, while acknowledging the presence of intra‐category variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of institutional pressure (IP), top management support (TMS), green supply chain management practices (GSCM), and supply chain competitive advantage (SCCA) on corporate environmental performance (EP). We also analyze the mediation effect of GSCM on the interplay between TMS and EP. Additionally, the paper also provides an analysis of the moderating role of SCCA between IP and EP. To attain the objective of this research, we assembled data from 710 business entities within the Shaanxi province of China utilizing a survey design approach. The structural equation model (SEM) was applied to test and assess the hypothetical outline. The study outcomes empirically show that TMS, GSCM, and SCCA positively and significantly impact EP. Interestingly, our study found an insignificant association between IP and EP. The study's results also demonstrate that IP directly relates to top management support. Moreover, the study's empirical findings reveal that GSCM positively mediates IP and EP. The study findings show that SCCA shapes IP and EP's connection. Accordingly, the practical implications of our study's findings suggest that business managers, investors, and government agencies must know the importance of adopting sustainable practices within the supply chain. Business managers must take action to integrate environmental criteria into supplier selection, evaluate suppliers' EP, and collaborate with eco‐friendly suppliers. Hence, government agencies, stakeholders, and business managers can use this information to shape regulations and policies that encourage businesses to adopt sustainable supply chain practices. Offering incentives such as tax benefits or grants for sustainability initiatives can also promote adoption. The study recommends that a business culture that targets improving EP due to IP and top management support is essential in achieving GSCM practices, thereby promising competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The platform economy is growing fast in the world. Its expansion, exemplified by industry giants like Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber, is reshaping societal lifestyles and commercial businesses. However, its environmental impacts are uncertain. Currently, the relationship between electronic commerce (e‐commerce) activities and environmental pollution has attracted a lot of attention. This paper attempts to construct a comprehensive theoretical model to investigate the nexus between e‐commerce and regional environmental pollution, with a particular focus on the effects of air pollution and waste pollution. Fixed effect models and China's provincial data during the period from 2008 to 2018 are employed to examine the roles of energy efficiency and resource consumption in such a nexus. The findings suggest that the development of e‐commerce is linked to a reduction in regional air pollution through the channel of improving transportation energy efficiency. The results also show that e‐commerce is associated with an increase in regional waste pollution due to the mechanism of resource consumption in the express packaging industry. As a result, the relationship between e‐commerce and environmental pollution is quite complex at the regional level, transcending a binary distinction of solely positive or negative impacts. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the complex environmental impacts of e‐commerce and helps governments design more efficient and targeted policies to reduce regional pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deeply exploring the formation path of tourists' environmentally responsible behavior is of great significance to standardize tourists' behavior and protect the environment of grassland tourist attractions. In this paper, an integrated model that mainly discussed two parts was explored by the stimulus–organism–response (S‐O‐R) theory adopting structural equation model (SEM) and multi‐group analysis (MGA). The first part is the direct role of the service quality, subjective norms, and environmental knowledge in motivating tourists' behavioral attitude and place attachment, as well as the indirect role of those three variables in shaping environmentally responsible behavior. As the second part, the potential moderating influence of visitor gender on the model is also discussed extensively in the paper. According to a survey of grassland tourists (n = 484) from Gansu and Qinghai provinces in China, it could be found that both environmental knowledge through behavioral attitude and service quality through local attachment have indirectly influence on environmentally responsible behavior. Direct and indirect effects of subjective norms on environmentally responsible behavior exist, and the indirect effects are based on behavioral attitude and local attachments. There is a significant moderating effect of gender on the effects of environmental knowledge on behavioral attitude, service quality, and subjective norms on place attachment. Finally, the future research directions were proposed based on existing limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low‐carbon sustainable development is considered an essential strategy for achieving economic growth and environmental protection, requiring a fundamental transformation of the industrial structure, including developing clean technologies, promoting energy efficiency, and adopting sustainable production and consumption patterns. Simultaneously, the evolving digital economy is acknowledged as an essential driver in optimizing the industrial structure. Therefore, can digital economy development reshape the industrial structure and lead to low‐carbon sustainable development? The main purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of industrial structure upgrading in the relationship between the digital economy and low‐carbon development. Its ultimate purpose is to explore more possible paths to achieve low‐carbon development. This paper builds a regression model based on the data of cities. We found that digital economic development can directly promote low‐carbon sustainable development, a conclusion that still holds after endogeneity discussion and robustness testing. Additionally, digital economy development can promote industrial structure upgrading and thus promote low‐carbon sustainable development, meaning that industrial structure upgrading is an effective mechanism for digital economy development to promote low‐carbon sustainable development. This paper provides empirical evidence for the positive environmental externalities of digital economic development and establishes a basic research framework of "digital economic development → industrial structure upgrading → low‐carbon sustainable development." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of government environmental concerns on green innovation and whether this has a "leverage effect" or a "crowding‐out effect." This study employs a two‐way fixed‐effects model to conduct an empirical test using panel data from 2010 to 2020 on Chinese firms listed in heavy‐polluting industries. The results suggest that an increase in government environmental concerns can promote corporate green innovation. However, government environmental concerns primarily stimulate strategic innovation rather than substantive innovation. After a series of robustness and endogeneity tests, the conclusions of this paper still hold. Corporate green innovation induced by government environmental concerns is not the "leverage effect" superimposed on existing innovation activities but the "crowding‐out effect" of other technological innovation. The heterogeneity tests in this paper indicate that the impact is more pronounced for firms with poorer environmental conditions, stronger political connections, and richer executive backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Europe, micro‐firms contribute significantly to both the economy and the environmental impact on ecosystems. Helping them become greener and stimulating innovation toward new sustainable and circular solutions could substantially contribute to the European goal of achieving carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability, as promoted by the European Green Deal and Next Generation EU programs. Nevertheless, eco‐innovation (EI) by micro‐firms is studied little in the literature. In this paper, we analyze the main determinants of conventional and EI adoption by micro‐firms. We used an ad‐hoc survey developed for enterprises in Emilia‐Romagna (Italy), an important region in terms of innovation where micro‐firms play a significant role in the economy. The paper analyzes whether human capital, training, R&D activities, collaboration activities to improve learning, and the environmental culture within the firm act as main determinants of innovation adoption, in addition to other standard drivers and barriers to innovation adoption studied in the extant literature. Moreover, we compare innovation adoption strategies between micro‐firms and SMEs. While our results highlight differences in the determinants of EI and conventional innovation adoption, there are important heterogeneities when it comes to innovation adoption strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nudging the amelioration of enterprise environmental performance is the micro‐foundation for effectively enhancing resource utilization and realizing sustainable development. Based on the upper echelons theory, the characteristics and previous experiences of managers determine their strategic choices and then affect the behavior of enterprises at the whole social layer. Nevertheless, the literature concerning the effect of CEO green experience on enterprise environmental performance is void. To bridge this gap, this paper uses the data of China's A‐share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2021 to empirically investigate the direct impact, influence mechanisms, and heterogeneities of CEO green experience on enterprise environmental performance. The study finds that CEO green experience can significantly promote the improvement of enterprise environmental performance. Based on the main effect, to exploring potential mechanisms behind the conclusion, we figure that environmental ethics commitment, environmental protection investment, and green technology innovation are the core mechanism approaches during the process of CEO green experience affects environmental performance. Heterogeneity analysis of CEO characteristics demonstrates that the green experience of female CEOs, older CEOs, and high educated CEOs both have a pronounced effect on ameliorating enterprise environmental performance. Furthermore, the positive effect of CEO green experience on environmental performance is more prominent in non‐state‐owned enterprises, heavily polluting industries, and regions with high environmental protection pressure. Besides providing an effective supplement for the research on managers and environmental performance, this paper also generates micro‐empirical support for government departments to formulate and optimize environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theoretical foundation of (sustainable) supply chain management (SSCM) is an issue of frequent debate. Integrating it with the Global Production Networks (GPN), which is a kind of stepsibling, can help expanding the theoretical foundations of SSCM. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the GPN approach links to SSCM in analysing and explaining interorganizational sustainability. This paper is conceptual. Five central GPN constructs are identified: (1) the emerging supply chain structures and sustainability; (2) the importance and relevance of embeddedness and governance; (3) power dynamics; (4) the stakeholder approach; (5) the sustainability dimensions and the implementation strategies. They are explained in detail and then contrasted with how the related topics are dealt within SSCM. The paper provides insights into the ongoing discussions in GPN and integrates the political economy debate into SSCM research. Findings reveal that GPN offers an alternative and yet complementary explanation about network and cluster formation in supply chains, the effect of embeddedness (geopolitical, social, and cultural) power relationships and governance mechanisms and their role in implementing ecological and social sustainability across the supply chains. The comparison of these complementary disciplines allows for the exchange of ideas between the SSCM and GPN approaches, thereby providing an enriched understanding for managing supply chain sustainability. The selective comparison of the SSCM and GPN constructs is the first of its kind and should trigger further research at this intersection. Five propositions capture core directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to explore what are the determinant influencing factors of the dilemma faced by state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) in implementing innovation‐driven development strategy (IDDS), to propose a suitable localized theory. It also suggests specific actions to break the post‐effects dilemma with the support of this theory. Based on the innovation‐driven survey data of provincial SOEs in Gansu Province, this study adopts grounded theory to conduct exploratory research. This paper constructs a behavior process model of "pre‐motivation, innovation path, and post‐effects dilemma" to drive SOE's innovation and expounds on the incidence relation among the three. The results show that the external administrative force and institutional mechanism drive have both indirect and direct impacts on the innovation path choice of SOEs. The endogenous drive is distorted by external administrative force and institutional mechanism drive, leading to the limited innovation path choice and post‐effects dilemma. This paper puts forward the theory of "Attribute Imbalance–Weakened Autonomy–Sluggish Innovation" and explains why it is sometimes difficult to implement the IDDS of SOEs. However, there are some regional limitations in the application scenarios of the theory. Whether it has broader implications need to further explore. Future theoretical testing should be conducted with a sample of SOEs in developed market regions. It is possible to study the differences in the degree of government intervention in SOEs, the ways of intervention, and the impact of these differences on SOEs' balancing dual attribute conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid growth of sustainable innovations in bioplastics for packaging industries, their diffusion into established markets has so far been hampered by ambiguous and asymmetrical communication between bioplastics producers and consumers (both businesses and end consumers), particularly related to bioplastics materials and their waste disposal procedures. This study looks into the communication processes, identifies barriers and investigates business strategies that can be adopted by bioplastic packaging industries to influence consumer adoption and proper disposal behaviour of bioplastic packaging. Based on a systematic review of 68 journal articles and guided by the signalling theory, the study found that connections with various signallers at the end‐of‐life of bioplastic packaging materials are required beyond the purview of the industrial sectors utilising the packaging. The paper proposes a conceptual framework incorporating new signal constructs specific to consumer‐facing sustainable innovation. The framework extends the signalling theory to be used as part of the bioplastic packaging industry's business strategy. The paper also emphasises the importance of altering the communication mechanisms in order to boost bioplastics industrial practices, which will subsequently contribute to the reduction of the detrimental impacts of fossil‐based plastics on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines theoretical sustainable business models and conflict indices in making practical sustainable (i.e., participatory decisions involving economic, social, and environmental features within weak or strong sustainability paradigms) and rational (i.e., informed and consistent decisions within substantive or instrumental rationality) decisions with respect to what, who, where, when, and how to act. The case study, focused on an offshore gas platform, identified when (i.e., the end as opposed to the beginning of extraction activities) and where (i.e., the economic, social, and environmental contexts of the Adriatic Sea in Abruzzo region, Italy). A face‐to‐face questionnaire, submitted to stakeholders, produced the relative weights required by the tested sustainable business models (Lüdeke‐Freund et al., 2018), and it reached a conclusion about how (i.e., in favor of the majority as opposed to average decisions). An application of a linear conflict index (Fasth et al., 2018) highlighted a lack of stakeholders' representativeness and knowledge and solved these issues with a 50% increase of stakeholders involved and an additional discussion with originally invited stakeholders on specific topics, respectively. In summary, the methodology suggested in this paper produced a (strong) sustainable and (substantive) rational decision about what and who based on relative weights expressed by representative and informed stakeholders being engaged at the smallest cost and with the largest support. Thus, the contribution of this paper is twofold: Theoretically, choices among alternative sustainable businesses depend on the adopted sustainability paradigm, and practically, choices among alternative sustainable businesses should be identified according to the adopted sustainability paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a systematic literature review emphasising scholars' view on the impact of the adoption of blockchain technologies to fight corruption. Providing a deep understanding of the state of the art, the paper drafts implications and valuable insights to address future research. The connection of anticorruption policies and blockchain technologies has been investigated using Scopus database and ABS journal ranking. The importance assumed by anticorruption policies and the innovativeness of the blockchain technology, thanks to its characteristics of immutability, automatic timestamping and distributed architecture, needs to be investigated in an integrated perspective. This study provides for the first time a systematic connection among anticorruption practices and blockchain towards the lens of the business, management and accounting field, providing valuable implications, insights and emerging issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular economy (CE) is the way forward to protect an endangered environment, promote social justice, and advance sustainable and balanced regional economic development. The proliferation of the CE concept and the circular startup (CSU) boom coincides with digital transformation, a socioeconomic change propelled by the widespread adoption of digital technologies. This paper uses a systems theory perspective to study the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem's (DEE) role in CSU formation. Fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is used to empirically explore the configurational recipes for the presence and absence of a high CSU formation rate. The results reveal that for a high CSU formation, DEE elements, such as digital protection and access, act as critical drivers, while other DEE elements take on a supportive role. The findings also show the complementarity effects, substitution effects, and neutral permutations of DEE elements among the configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a supply chain network that considers both economic and environmental factors. The network faces challenges related to multi‐item products and non‐homogenous vehicle types with different costs. Additionally, the production process involves multiple energy sources that emit different levels of air pollution. The main objective is to maximise profits while adhering to different carbon policies. To achieve this goal, the paper presents several supply chain models that are compared under different schemes: no carbon policy (basic one), carbon tax policy, carbon emission policy and carbon trading policy. These models were coded and solved to demonstrate their effectiveness for different conditions and scenarios. The results provide valuable insights for supply chain managers, enabling them to make well‐established decisions for executive planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable packaging is a pivotal aspect of sustainable development, involving multi‐faceted issues such as stakeholder management and environmental policy compliance. Despite the efforts to find packaging solutions, the extant literature is largely fragmented, featuring a high level of heterogeneity among studies that spread across different disciplines, with the majority examining important packaging issues in isolation. A study that systematically consolidates findings of different important areas of sustainable packaging implementation is lacking. This challenges companies' adoption of research findings in business strategy development. Thus, this paper conducts a systematic literature review combining keyword co‐occurrence analysis, thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis to uncover major research domains, consolidate important findings and reveal unsolved research gaps, which are crucial to advancing sustainable packaging management. The findings reveal four major research domains: (1) sustainable packaging materials and properties, (2) management practices of sustainable packaging, (3) consumer behaviours towards sustainable packaging and (4) packaging waste management. Drawing on the natural‐resource‐based view (NRBV) theory and the review findings, this study proposes four future research directions: (1) identifying ways to enhance the commercialisation of sustainable packaging technological innovations, (2) uncovering reasons for insufficient social aspect investigation in sustainable packaging research, (3) exploring strategies to enhance stakeholder integration in sustainable packaging management and (4) examining contingency factors of packaging waste management effectiveness. The research agenda is important to provide practical and managerial insights for business strategy development in sustainable packaging to achieve pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development capabilities to gain future growth and competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between corporate purpose and disaster response. To that aim, we use a unique dataset generated by Just Capital's COVID‐19 response tracker that characterizes the early responses of 928 companies included in the Russell 1000 Index generated by the COVID‐19 pandemic. We marry this data to the Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation (BRT‐CPS) signatories list, which includes 210 firms that declared "a fundamental commitment to all stakeholders" as their corporate purpose. We estimate the differential impact of BRT‐CPS signees on the rest. After controlling our results with financial indicators and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data, we convey that BRT‐CPS signees were more likely to develop strategies that benefited their surrounding communities and other stakeholders. Moreover, corporations with high ESG were less likely to have an early response that directly benefited stakeholders other than shareholders, except for layoffs and unpaid leave. Finally, we discuss the outcomes considering the symbolic management theory, corporate purpose literature, and its relation to stakeholder management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to add to the knowledge on the motivations driving SMEs in Spain to engage in voluntary social and environmental reporting (SER). We apply inductive content analysis to information sourced from interviews with SME owner‐managers, complemented with CEO letters. While the paper confirms that there are several co‐existing motivations for SER in SMEs, inconsistencies are identified between the information disclosed in the two aforementioned sources. Overall, stakeholder engagement seems to be the most important motivation for reporting. Contrary to what the literature to date has shown about the relevance of SME owner‐managers' personal values when it comes to disclosing social and environmental information, our findings suggest that individual beliefs and values are not the main factor driving SER. Results also show industry and firm size are determinants of motivations for SER. The study thus contributes to the literature on this underexplored topic by providing insights into the motivations for SER in SMEs. An understanding of these motivations is pivotal to help policymakers focus their efforts on implementing appropriate institutional reforms in this emerging field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines barriers to supply chain digitization (SCD) and offers mitigation strategies, focusing on sustainable development goals (SDGs), technological adoption, and financial constraints. A hybrid research approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, has been used to analyze significant SCD barriers and strategies under budget constraints. According to the findings, "lack of proper research and development facility" is the most influential barrier to SCD. The overcoming strategies are then ranked by how likely they are to be implemented in response to barriers. From a sustainability perspective, "improving privacy and security" is identified as the most important strategy. Further, a mathematical model is developed to facilitate investment‐related decision‐making by determining the most suitable overcoming strategies under budget constraints. The proposed mathematical model is evaluated across a range of investments and for a set of overcoming strategies within a given scenario. The findings demonstrate that optimal investments of $1.78 million can cover the top two overcoming strategies for implementation. Furthermore, the results indicate that a minimum investment of $1.9 million is required to adopt all 10 overcoming strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings were developed to account for the multidimensional nature of the sustainability of firms. Research on ESG ratings suggests that working towards sustainability means engaging in a utopian effort, as in the chimera myth. We developed a conceptual framework of corporate activities that guides a systematic literature review based on 79 papers. Our analysis confirms that ESG ratings remain a black box, explored mainly from a purely monetary perspective and with contradictions on value created for companies and collective well‐being. Therefore, we deduce that research is still "chasing a chimera," being this incomplete knowledge due to divergences in (1) theories, (2) regulations, (3) geographic and (4) corporate culture, (5) constructs/metrics, and (6) corporate attitude towards disclosure. Consequently, we identify research gaps and avenues for future research to foster corporations' responsible behaviours and socially responsible investing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent years, the Circular Economy (CE) has turned into a debated area worldwide as a way of achieving a more sustainable society. However, little is known about how companies can disclose CE‐related activities in their corporate reporting. This paper aims to explore how and to what extent CE‐related information is included in Integrated Reporting (IR) practices by promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study applies qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis approaches to explore the associations with CE, IR, the six capitals and SDGs. The institutional theory approach has been adopted to justify incorporating CE R‐principles activities into IR practices. Multiple case study findings demonstrate that every case company minimum one time cites the CE R principle, while case companies seen to be more involved in the reduce (R1), reuse (R2) and recycle (R7) are engaged with IR practices and focussing on SDGs. Whereas coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphism mechanism substantially impacts CE activities concerning IR practices, we can argue that mimetic isomorphisms need further investigation because no structures and frameworks are available. In terms of managerial implications, this study proposed a combined framework of CE and IR that provides a conceptual picture of how CE activities intermesh with the IR framework and the six capitals, both essential for the Sustainable Development (SD) agenda participation and value creation process of companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small firms may go green because of intrinsic motivation (to realise their green values) or extrinsic pressure (to satisfy the requirements of stakeholders). While the impacts of these two motivations on firms' green behaviours have been discussed in the literature, their influences on economic behaviours such as innovation remain unclear. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between going green due to intrinsic versus extrinsic motivations and their impact on firms' innovation. We examine a dataset of almost 21,000 small businesses in 39 countries, primarily less developed, from 2018 to 2020. We find that firms going green tend to be more innovative than those that do not. Also, firms going green due to extrinsic pressure are equally innovative as those that do so for intrinsic motivation. In some cases, it is even found that extrinsic pressure exerts a stronger effect on innovation than intrinsic motivation. Moreover, we examine the moderating effects of market competition on the relationship between green motivation and innovation. We find that while competition exerts no effect on the relationship between intrinsic motivation to go green and firm innovation, it strengthens the relationship between extrinsic motivation to go green and firm innovation. Our findings are robust in different empirical settings that control for endogeneity, model specifications and estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordinated development of digitization and greening is an essential requirement for the sustainable development of the global economy. With the rapid development of the digital economy, enterprises are facing a new external environment for green innovation. This paper uses the robust principal component analysis method to construct the digital economy development index for Chinese prefecture‐level or above cities from 2012 to 2019 and examines the impact of the digital economy on corporate green innovation. It is found that the development of the digital economy can stimulate corporate green innovation by alleviating financing constraints, improving internal control, and reducing environmental uncertainty. This study further reveals that both increasing government environmental regulation and stronger judicial guarantees can enhance the positive impact of digitization. This research aims to provide inspiration and reference on how better to integrate digital economy development and corporate green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of corporate sustainability parameters has become part of organizational management. Item Response Theory (IRT) serves as a valuable approach for quantifying and exploring observable variables associated with these parameters. Therefore, this article aims to propose, apply, and validate an instrument utilizing IRT to measure environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts on corporate sustainability performance, using the perspective of workers. Workers were chosen as key stakeholders for the present study, as they were pointed by previous research as central to corporate sustainability decisions. The present paper addresses a literature gap by introducing, implementing, and validating a research instrument, along with a comparative scale, to assess the effects of integrating ESG criteria on corporate sustainability performance. Workers of two major Brazilian electricity sector companies were respondents for this instrument. Multigroup IRT method was used to assess item discrimination and difficulty levels, and to construct a scale reflecting workers' perceptions of integrating ESG criteria. The questionnaire consisted of 15 items, demonstrating Content Validity Coefficients (CVC) above.97, confirming the instrument's content effectiveness. Cronbach's Alpha and McDonald's Omega were greater than.94 for both companies. Questionnaire items demonstrated satisfactory discrimination ability and varying difficulty levels, resulting in a five‐level scale to gauge the impacts of ESG criteria. This research contributes through the introduction and validation of the research instrument, the latent trait assessment scale, and the evaluation of workers' perceptions regarding ESG criteria impacts on corporate sustainability performance. In conclusion, the proposed instrument showed robust psychometric properties, displaying favorable reliability and validity parameters. It effectively measures the impacts of ESG criteria, providing interpretable levels aligned with the unique characteristics of its constituent items [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular economy (CE) has emerged as a sustainable alternative to the current "take, make, waste" linear approach. Although prior studies have highlighted the salience of collaborative efforts between start‐ups and incumbents, little is known about the mechanisms behind collaboration in a CE context. This study enhances our understanding of the topic by drawing on six cases of circular start‐ups (CSUs) operating in the United Kingdom's business‐to‐business market and investigating the mechanisms by which start‐ups collaborate with incumbents. Using the Context, Intervention, Mechanism, Outcome framework, the paper's findings demonstrate that CE does not necessitate high‐risk and expensive changes and show that CSUs can collaborate with incumbents in low‐risk ways by outsourcing and developing service contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of sustainability factors in banking activities is becoming more urgent and necessary since banks are asked by regulatory and supervisory authorities to integrate Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) components in their risk management and governance frameworks. In literature, there is a lack of studies that assess the sustainability orientation of banks. We tried to fill this literature gap by providing a formal approach to evaluate the sustainability profile of Italian banks against the requirements of Article 111 bis of the National Normative Framework, which defines specific criteria for "sustainable banks". Exploiting a mixed‐method approach, we analyze banks' compliance with the requirements of Article 111 bis and develop a distance metric that allows us to evaluate the distance of traditional banks from a selected benchmark compliant with Article 111 bis. While our findings reveal that Italian banks fall short of complete compliance with Article 111 bis, positive trends, particularly in sustainable lending, are discernible. Our paper represents an initial reflection on the definition of a sustainable business strategy, identifying crucial aspects that can be considered in harmonizing the bank's transition path to sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, blockchain has been increasingly applied to low‐carbon supply chains, enabling consumers to track production process of low‐carbon products, thereby improving brand awareness and expanding the market. However, do the operation and construction costs of blockchain come at the expense of squeezing resources originally allocated for research and development (R&D) of carbon emission reduction (CER) or reducing firms profits? Given the varying capacities of different types of firms to bear the costs of blockchain in the process of R&D of CER, this paper considers two categories of firms, superior brand firms and inferior brand firms, and studies the impact of blockchain usage on CER and profits. Research shows that the usage of blockchain is not necessarily beneficial to CER and profits enhancement. Consumers' trust and low‐carbon preference, brand awareness, blockchain operation and construction costs, and R&D difficulty of CER are key factors. Superior brand firms can improve CER level and profits through blockchain when R&D difficulty is low and consumers' trust is high or when R&D difficulty is high but consumers' low‐carbon preferences and brand awareness are high. Inferior brand firms can improve CER level and profits through blockchain when R&D difficulty is low and consumers' trust is high or when R&D difficulty is high but brand awareness is low. This study provides strategic insights for brand firms considering the usage of blockchain in their CER initiatives, highlighting the importance of aligning blockchain integration with firm‐specific characteristics and market conditions to achieve both environmental and profit objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing interest in the 17 United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs), companies still struggle with how to implement them as part of their sustainability policies. Hence, we explore how the SDGs are adopted in supply chain management (SCM) using institutional logic as a theoretical lens. Based on a case study, we analyse 10 interviews conducted with managers and suppliers of a multinational cosmetics company recognised for its sustainability engagement. Our findings show that while the strategic level embraces the SDG framework, supply management processes are exclusively evident at the operational level. This becomes even more salient in the analysis of sustainability and commercial coexisting logics. Although sustainability logic concerns compliance with sustainability‐related regulations and external pressures, commercial logic demonstrates the effective engagement of strategic decisions in favor of profitability. Our results reveal nuances in the existing gap between the SDGs and SCM, illustrated through a typology of coexisting logics at the strategic and operational levels, adding value to the SCM literature. This paper questions the feasibility of implementing the UN SDGs along a supply chain, which opens the door for future research and new practical insights relevant to companies' daily operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, as China's economy has grown at a rapid pace and social welfare has increased dramatically, environmental issues have become increasingly prominent. Whether companies undertaking digital transformation will improve the environmental performance has drawn the focus of scholars. For this reason, this paper uses the microfirm data of China's manufacturing industry from 2011 to 2020 to explore the relationship between corporate digital transformation (CDT), market competition, and environmental performance, as well as its external mechanism. The study has found that in the analysis of environmental performance measured by firms' pollution emissions, the improvement of the level of CDT shows a nonlinear trajectory in its impact on environmental performance. With a highly centralized market environment, the impact of CDT on environmental performance is further diminished. By analyzing the variability of the degree of market competition, the CDT can promote the environmental performance by enhancing market competition (reducing market concentration). In addition, from the perspective of source reduction, the CDT also advances the environmental performance. The research conclusions contribute to the study of environmental performance, which can guide the transformation from end‐of‐pipe pollutant emissions to source reduction to promote the sustainable development of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambitious EU Green Deal project is linked to extensive regulations on sustainability reporting, sustainable finance, and sustainable corporate governance. With increasing awareness of the impact of sustainable board governance on corporate environmental performance, our paper includes an innovative sustainable board governance score, reflecting significant board attributes. The question arises whether the combined effect of sustainable board measures, based on (1) sustainability board committees, (2) a critical mass of female board members, and (3) sustainability‐related executive compensation, influences environmental performance and its main sub‐pillars according to the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Based on stakeholder and critical mass theories, our study empirically addresses the impact of sustainable board governance on environmental performance and five sub‐pillars (carbon, emissions, biodiversity, resource use, and water performance). Using a sample of 2630 firm‐year observations from 2014 to 21, we find that sustainable board governance significantly improves environmental performance and the related sub‐pillars, except for biodiversity and water performance. Our findings are robust to robustness analyses and endogeneity checks. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to rely on the combined effect of sustainable board attributes and its impact of environmental performance and its major sub‐pillars. Thus, this study provides new insight into the relationship between corporate governance and environmental performance in the EU capital market to guide researchers, business practice, and regulatory bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable business models (SBMs) represent a contemporary approach seeking to deliver value to businesses and a wide range of stakeholders. This paper addresses the existing gap in practical guidance for businesses aiming to incorporate a wider range of stakeholders into their SBMs. To address the gap, a systematic review of academic literature and a review of mining company reports were conducted. The findings demonstrate that it is imperative to integrate stakeholders to achieve sustainability objectives, gain societal acceptance and foster legitimacy while maintaining alignment with stakeholders' concerns. To this end, the theoretical implication of this study lies in introducing a stakeholder integration model (SIM) that underscores the roles of identification, communication, knowledge sharing and continual improvement in achieving sustainability objectives and societal acceptance within SBMs. Practically, it addresses a gap by providing practical guidance for businesses to integrate stakeholders to manage risk, uncover value‐creation opportunities and gain social acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing attention to sustainability as a source of new business opportunities, current research on new ventures has hardly considered this factor with respect to access to funding. This paper examines the role of new venture sustainability signals on business angels' willingness to invest. Specifically, it considers the effects of third‐party sustainability certification and the self‐proclaimed label of sustainable entrepreneurship as congruent reputational signals for inducing angel investors' willingness to invest. Three studies were conducted using a 2 × 2 between‐subject experimental design on certification and label conditions, respectively, in two samples from the Amazon MTurk crowdsourcing marketplace and one from business angels. Results show that early‐stage ventures would use such signals in their sustainability exemplification strategy to convey quality and prestige and eventually improve their chances of raising business angel funding. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of climate change, including fires, droughts and storms, on natural resources and agricultural output is increasing. In addition to these problems, resource depletion and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, agriculture also contributes to global warming. To reduce the dangers of climate change, farmers are using sustainable practices. This article aims to link agri‐food 4.0 technology with climate‐smart agriculture (CSA) to lessen the two‐way interaction (both affecting and impacted) between the agricultural sector and global warming, as well as dangers related to the agri‐food business. In light of this information, the research methodology of the paper is twofold. Initially, related risks towards climate change and the CSA and agri‐food 4.0 technologies to overcome these risks were determined through a literature review. Then, risks and technologies are evaluated by adopting the TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for Interactive and Multicriteria Decision Making), which is used for evaluating the criteria set with the related technologies to overcome climate change‐related risks and provide a guiding map for academics and practitioners to eliminate risks associated with these climate change‐related factors. According to the study's findings, the highest‐priority concerns in the agri‐food industries that are connected to climate change include energy consumption, food safety and GHG emissions. Internet of Things (IoT), bio‐innovation and artificial intelligence are thought to be the most promising technological solutions to address these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting employee green behavior (EGB) through leadership is considered a crucial way to achieve corporate environmental sustainability goals. However, there is still a gap in understanding how paternalistic leadership with Eastern characteristics affects EGB. Drawing on the social exchange theory, this paper explores how the two different dimensions of paternalistic leadership, benevolent leadership and authoritarian leadership, affect employee green behavior, and examines the mediating role of psychological ownership. The study uses Mplus 8.3 to analyze 474 leader‐subordinate paired data. The results revealed three key findings: (1)There is a notable distinction between the benevolent and authoritarian dimensions of paternalistic leadership concerning their pathways and strengths on driving EGB. (2) Benevolent leadership directly promotes employee task‐related green behavior while influencing employee eco‐civic engagement behavior and eco‐helping behavior through psychological ownership. (3) Authoritarian leadership directly promotes employee task‐related green behavior, eco‐civic engagement behavior and eco‐helping behavior. Based on the above findings, this study offers practical guidance to corporate managers on effectively utilizing the benevolent‐authoritarian style of dual‐dexterous leadership to incentivize EGB conducive to corporate green transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco‐Innovation (EI) emerges as an enabler of Circular Economy (CE). A shift to the CE is a powerful opportunity for companies to create significant financial and economic value for business and society: the so‐called "circular advantage". Companies have a crucial role as accelerators of the CE transition, although the identification and exploitation of CE opportunities that derive from trasformative EI being essential. With the aim to develop a multidimensional and multi‐actor approach to innovation in CE the present paper proposes an integrated Multi‐Criteria Decision‐Making (MCDM) method based on fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Interval‐Valued Triangular Fuzzy Numbers Additive Ratio ASsessment (IVTFN‐ARAS). The proposed method is conceived as a tool to evaluate the ability of Eco‐Innovative solutions to trigger company adoption of CE business models, the exploitation of disruptive technologies, and the enforcement of dynamic capabilities, which are all recognized as drivers of CE advantage. An illustrative application to a set of EU‐funded Eco‐Innovative projects is presented to clarify how the method works in practice. Discussion and suggestions for future research offer guidance to use the method as a policy‐making instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores how restrictions of credit affect the turning point of the non‐linear relationship between financial performance and the environmental sustainability of manufacturing firms in India. Our results are in support of the inverted U‐shaped relationship between financial performance and environmental sustainability. The study builds upon an alternative long‐run specification, which avoids the non‐linear transformations of potentially non‐stationary regressors in panel estimation and finds evidence that the higher the firm's degree of credit constraints, the lower is its financial performance at the turning point, indicating the different finance‐sustainability paths across firms due to credit frictions. We also investigate the aforementioned relationship by considering the exporting potential of the firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study builds on the Circular Economy paradigm which recognises consumers as key stakeholders in extending textiles' lifespan. The paper unfolds how consumers engage in the textile disposal practices of reuse, repair, donate and resell. In doing so, consumers create a value‐in‐disposition, here conceptualised as the enhanced value that consumers generate through the process of transforming depleted textiles into new meaningful ones. This research adopts a multimethod platform focused ethnography that combines textual, visual and audio data, generated in the domestic environment, which facilitates contextual and situational insights. The findings highlight that value‐in‐disposition goes far beyond the utilitarian aspects (e.g. economic or functional) and includes social, aesthetic, emotional and moral value dimensions, which contribute in building an overarching environmental value. The study shows that consumer disposal practices not only reduce waste but also favour consumer empowerment through the transformation of unused/depleted resources into new value. Finally, the article provides specific managerial insights on the design of textile products and services to encourage consumer engagement in reuse, repair, donation, and resell practices, supporting companies in the Circular Economy uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine in this paper how firm value (market‐to‐book ratio, MTB) of U.S. oil and gas sector firms from 2010 to 2020 responds to carbon emissions intensity measures. We investigate three measures comprising total carbon emissions relative to assets, to market value of equity, and to net property, plant, and equipment. Our dynamic panel data approach separates the 82 firms into 35 fracking and 47 non‐fracking companies to address features underlying firm financing during the shale oil revolution. Concerned investors about the companies' large carbon emissions may have pulled out of the sector. These companies may also have overleveraged when expanding into new technologies of oil production or kept larger cash flow ratios. We report lower average carbon emissions for fracking firms, together with the larger size of fracking techniques: mean of assets of $46 billion for fracking versus $12 billion for non‐fracking companies. Using fixed‐effects and system generalized methods of moments (SGMM) models, we find that carbon emissions decrease MTB of fracking firms more than non‐fracking firms. Our dynamic panel approach provides a more accurate measure of the real effect of carbon emissions that is very robust to Tobin's q as alternative measure of firm value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to studies examining the effects of government incentives such as environmental regulation on corporate green innovation, this paper investigates the influence of CEO reputation, a market‐based incentive mechanism, on companies' green innovation behavior. Utilizing green patent data from Chinese A‐share listed companies from 2007 to 2020, we construct a CEO reputation index through principal component analysis and examine its impact on corporate green innovation behavior and underlying mechanisms. Our findings indicate that CEO reputation positively affects companies' green innovation behavior. This effect is primarily driven by reducing financing constraints, CEOs' risk perception, and rising environmental awareness. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals the positive relationship between CEO reputation and green innovation behavior is more pronounced in companies with strong executive compensation incentives, political connections, and effective internal control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing stakeholders' concerns in megaprojects with an inclusive and ethical vision is a current open challenge. To overcome company‐centered stakeholder‐management practices, an ecosystem view, (i.e., one based on the network of relationships among involved stakeholders), should be adopted by designing bottom‐up participatory stakeholder mapping processes that include the stakeholders affected by the construction of a megaproject. This paper presents an analysis of the stakeholder ecosystem of a contested megaproject in Italy (the Turin–Lyon high‐speed rail) aimed at identifying similarities and discrepancies in stakeholder identification and prioritization between the managers' perception and an ecosystem point of view. The study followed a mixed‐method approach. By coding the self‐declared statements from 21 interviews with middle and top managers of the organization in charge of the construction and visualizing the emerging network of actors through a social network analysis and the use of centrality degrees, the most relevant stakeholders are identified. Our findings reveal how the prioritization of stakeholders obtained through the centrality degrees significantly differs from what the managers declare in reference to the concept of salience, highlighting how a bottom‐up stakeholder mapping process—by including the stakeholders themselves in the mapping process—should be designed and reiterated during the whole life of a megaproject in order to adopt an inclusive stakeholder management approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigating the impact of sustainability committee characteristics (SCCs) on corporate sustainability performance (CSP) utilised environmental, social and governance (ESG) scoring. Based on secondary data obtained from Refinitiv, Fame and FTSE 150 databases, the sample consists of 112 non‐financial companies from 2010 to 2018, thus 926 firm‐year observations. The results reveal a positive and significant relationship between organisational factors including firm size, profitability and firm age across combined ESG and environmental scores. As for the sustainability committee characteristics, there is a positive association between frequency of committee meeting and age diversity with governance scores and a negative relationship between frequency of committee meeting and environmental performance. The empirical finding shows positive and negative relationships under the presence of focussed and non‐focussed committees equally. Furthermore, the presence of focussed or non‐focussed sustainability committees (SCs) do appear to have an association with the overall CSP. Furthermore, this paper provides empirical evidence of the insignificant relationship of SCC with the sub‐dimension of social performance, which contradicts our hypothesis and existing studies. Together with SCC's weak associations with environment and governance dimensions, this finding supports the argument that firms are actively using sustainability committees to create positive public image and reputation to protect legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing the circular economy (CE) requires novel forms of stakeholder collaboration. While the contemporary literature on stakeholder theory is commonly characterized as "pro‐business‐oriented," it remains ambiguous on how precisely stakeholder collaborations may pave the way for a systemic CE transition. By applying a qualitative‐empirical research approach utilizing semi‐structured interviews, this paper identifies three types of stakeholder governance for CE collaborations—(i) company‐centric governance, (ii) industry‐oriented governance, and (iii) cross‐industry‐oriented governance. Our contribution to stakeholder theory lies in examining how a systemic CE transition may bridge "the stakeholder‐system divide." We emphasize the unique role of innovative governance in ensuring the success of stakeholder relationships while highlighting how systemic changes of the business environment may give an impetus to stakeholder collaborations. We contribute to the CE literature by gaining the following insights into stakeholder collaborations in the European chemicals and plastics industry: (a) successful collaborations typically feature a variety of different stakeholders maintaining close mutual interactions; (b) a systemic CE transition calls for managerial strategies that are collectively governance‐oriented rather than company‐centric. This article thus sheds light on the criticality of stakeholder collaborations and collective‐oriented governance strategies in fostering CE practices within the European chemicals and plastics industry highlighting that stakeholder collaborations for a CE need to be extended beyond immediate industrial and sectoral boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper aims at examining the effect of three green capabilities, namely, green entrepreneurial orientation, green learning orientation, and green absorptive capacity, on triple bottom line firm performance under the natural resource‐based view (NRBV) lens. Data were collected through self‐administered surveys distributed among large firms in Egypt that have sustainability initiatives. A total of 211 responses were received, and data analysis was conducted using SMARTPLS 4.0. Results indicated an insignificant direct relationship between green entrepreneurial orientation and triple bottom line firm performance, yet results showed a positive indirect relationship between green entrepreneurial orientation and triple bottom line firm performance in the presence of green learning orientation as a mediator. Moreover, results indicated a positive indirect relationship between green entrepreneurial orientation and triple bottom line firm performance in the presence of green absorptive capacity as a mediator. Last but not the least, the relationship between green entrepreneurial orientation and triple bottom line firm performance was found to be positive when sequentially mediated by green learning orientation and green absorptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]