Developing a sustainability implementation framework: insights from academic research on tools, initiatives and approaches

Núria Bautista-Puig (), Rodrigo Lozano () and Maria Barreiro-Gen ()
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Núria Bautista-Puig: University of Gävle
Rodrigo Lozano: University of Gävle
Maria Barreiro-Gen: University of Gävle

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2023, vol. 25, issue 10, No 20, 11031 pages

Abstract: Abstract Sustainability has been proposed to address societal challenges. A number of efforts have been undertaken to implement sustainability, particularly through frameworks such as tools, initiatives and approaches (TIAs). Most of the research on the implementation efforts has been in the corporate context. This paper is aimed at analysing the implementation of TIAs in academic research. A bibliometric analysis of twenty TIAs during the period 1961–2020 was carried out to analyse their implementation in academic research. The results highlight that there has been research published on all the TIAs analysed. The TIAs have a better balance and interrelations between the sustainability dimensions in their implementation than in the theory. The results show that for a better implementation of TIAs in academic research it is necessary to address sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, social, and time) in a holistic and balanced way considering alignment of general and specific efforts, i.e. TIAs, and congruence (linking ‘theory’ and ‘implementation’). The results were integrated to propose a ‘Sustainability Implementation Framework’ (SIF), which is divided into three levels (i.e., Initiatives, Approaches, and Tools). The TIAs implementation should follow more strictly the definitions, or, perhaps, the TIAs definitions should be redefined to encompass the insights from their implementation.

Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Tools; initiatives; and approaches; Corporate social responsibility; Corporate sustainability; Green chemistry; Sustainability implementation framework (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02516-y

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