THE SUSTAINABILITY OF "SUSTAINABILITY" — A STUDY INTO THE CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE NOTION OF "SUSTAINABILITY"

Niels Faber (), René Jorna () and Jo van Engelen ()
Additional contact information
Niels Faber: Faculty of Management and Organisation, University of Groningen, P. O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
René Jorna: Faculty of Management and Organisation, University of Groningen, P. O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Jo van Engelen: Faculty of Management and Organisation, University of Groningen, P. O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), 2005, vol. 07, issue 01, 1-33

Abstract: The new challenge for organisations is to deal with the complex issue of sustainability. However, the confusion surrounding "sustainability" hinders its implementation. This article formulates a framework consisting of three aspects to analyse the conceptual developments that underlie "sustainability": the artefact ("what"), goal orientation ("relative versus absolute") and (behavioural) interaction ("static versus dynamic"). The study of conceptual foundations underpins the framework. Contributions in both the theoretical (definitions) and the practical (indicators) spheres are analysed. The discussion about sustainability takes place in firms. Therefore, organisational developments are used as a reference timeline. Based on observations and analyses, this article suggests a new course for the sustainability discussion and its implications for the organisational context: a knowledge approach focussing on transparency and dialogue. This also implies that the emphasis in the sustainability discussion is changing from a merely environmental to an organisational and societal perspective.

Keywords: Sustainability; conceptual development; conceptual foundation; organisation; sustainability indicators; knowledge management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1464333205001955
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:jeapmx:v:07:y:2005:i:01:n:s1464333205001955

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S1464333205001955

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM) is currently edited by Thomas Fischer

More articles in Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().