Corporate sustainability research in marketing: Mapping progress and broadening our perspective

Youngtak M. Kim (), Neil T. Bendle (), John Hulland () and Michael D. Pfarrer ()
Additional contact information
Youngtak M. Kim: University of Tennessee
Neil T. Bendle: University of Georgia
John Hulland: University of Georgia
Michael D. Pfarrer: University of Georgia

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2024, vol. 52, issue 5, No 13, 1495-1512

Abstract: Abstract This review examines corporate sustainability research in marketing, using a perspective that encompasses the environmental and social, as well as economic, aspects of firm performance (i.e., the “Triple Bottom Line”). The authors describe major trends in the strategy-level corporate sustainability literature over several generations. Prior research has mostly focused on the organizational level, noting how firms have engaged with sustainability, while largely ignoring markets and the global economic system. Trends in economic, environmental, and social focus are highlighted, with environmental issues being of relatively greater importance in the nascent stages of corporate sustainability research. However, a growing preference for economic and social issues is observed over time. More recent research examines the tension between sustainability and profitability, examining potential trade-offs between bottom line financial results and achieving the sustainability goals of social and environmental progress. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research in strategic marketing sustainability.

Keywords: Corporate sustainability; Triple Bottom Line; CSR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-024-01050-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:joamsc:v:52:y:2024:i:5:d:10.1007_s11747-024-01050-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... gement/journal/11747

DOI: 10.1007/s11747-024-01050-9

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science is currently edited by John Hulland, Anne Hoekman and Mark Houston

More articles in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().