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Managing Sustainably vs. Managing Sustainability: Exploring Sustainability Management in Born Sustainable Companies and Becoming Sustainable Companies

Wittenburg, Paula LU and Bradley, Alexandra LU (2023) MGTN59 20231
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
Despite the growing recognition of sustainability in business, industry research lacks behind in
how businesses can integrate sustainable practices. This master thesis aims to investigate how
managers in two different types of businesses, namely born sustainable businesses and becoming
sustainable businesses, manage sustainability. The study begins with a comprehensive literature
review that explores key concepts of sustainability management, including business
sustainability, drivers for sustainability, change management, organizational culture, leadership,
and challenges to sustainability management. These key concepts form the theoretical framework
for the study, which guides the method and abductive research design. Here we... (More)
Despite the growing recognition of sustainability in business, industry research lacks behind in
how businesses can integrate sustainable practices. This master thesis aims to investigate how
managers in two different types of businesses, namely born sustainable businesses and becoming
sustainable businesses, manage sustainability. The study begins with a comprehensive literature
review that explores key concepts of sustainability management, including business
sustainability, drivers for sustainability, change management, organizational culture, leadership,
and challenges to sustainability management. These key concepts form the theoretical framework
for the study, which guides the method and abductive research design. Here we adopt a
qualitative research methodology using semi-structured interviews of sustainability managers
from both born sustainable and becoming sustainable companies. The interviews provide
empirical data, which is analyzed and used to revise the theoretical framework based on
inductive reasoning. Four main themes of integrating sustainability, responding to forces in the
external landscape, the evolving nature of sustainability and its implications and personal drivers
to sustainability management were produced, which both confirmed and contrasted the initial
theoretical framework leading to an in depth discussion. The conclusions drawn from the study
shed light on the differences and challenges with how managers in born sustainable and
becoming sustainable businesses approach sustainability management. The research contributes
to the existing literature on sustainability management by extending our understanding of
sustainability practices and challenges in born sustainable and becoming sustainable companies,
emphasizing the significance of personal values, organizational culture, and leadership. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wittenburg, Paula LU and Bradley, Alexandra LU
supervisor
organization
course
MGTN59 20231
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
business sustainability, born sustainable, becoming sustainable, change management, culture, leadership
language
English
id
9125088
date added to LUP
2023-06-26 14:16:28
date last changed
2023-06-26 14:16:28
@misc{9125088,
  abstract     = {{Despite the growing recognition of sustainability in business, industry research lacks behind in
how businesses can integrate sustainable practices. This master thesis aims to investigate how
managers in two different types of businesses, namely born sustainable businesses and becoming
sustainable businesses, manage sustainability. The study begins with a comprehensive literature
review that explores key concepts of sustainability management, including business
sustainability, drivers for sustainability, change management, organizational culture, leadership,
and challenges to sustainability management. These key concepts form the theoretical framework
for the study, which guides the method and abductive research design. Here we adopt a
qualitative research methodology using semi-structured interviews of sustainability managers
from both born sustainable and becoming sustainable companies. The interviews provide
empirical data, which is analyzed and used to revise the theoretical framework based on
inductive reasoning. Four main themes of integrating sustainability, responding to forces in the
external landscape, the evolving nature of sustainability and its implications and personal drivers
to sustainability management were produced, which both confirmed and contrasted the initial
theoretical framework leading to an in depth discussion. The conclusions drawn from the study
shed light on the differences and challenges with how managers in born sustainable and
becoming sustainable businesses approach sustainability management. The research contributes
to the existing literature on sustainability management by extending our understanding of
sustainability practices and challenges in born sustainable and becoming sustainable companies,
emphasizing the significance of personal values, organizational culture, and leadership.}},
  author       = {{Wittenburg, Paula and Bradley, Alexandra}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Managing Sustainably vs. Managing Sustainability: Exploring Sustainability Management in Born Sustainable Companies and Becoming Sustainable Companies}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}