An empirical study to prioritize the determinants of corporate sustainability performance using analytic hierarchy process

Abstract

Purpose

The use of natural resources by organizations has a significant impact on society, resulting in business firms playing a vital role in developing sustainable development. As a result, corporate sustainability has become an integral aspect of a company’s vision and policy in the modern days. Companies issue sustainability reports based on various criteria and metrics, thereby attempting to gain a competitive edge. This study aims to assess and prioritize the numerous factors that influence corporate sustainability performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to prioritize the identified determinants of corporate sustainability performance based on the literature. Several experts from business and academia were engaged to build a comparison matrix for assessing the various aspects of corporate sustainability performance. As a result, various corporate sustainability determinants were determined and prioritized following an extensive literature review using the AHP.

Findings

The most critical component for companies is an economic indicator. Developing environmentally and socially responsible suggestions must be a priority for the organization’s economic performance. Economic performance is believed to be most heavily influenced by innovation and in the other category like environmental and social performance are highly influenced by environment management policies and shareholder responsibility, respectively. Researchers’ findings suggest that to promote sustainability, top executives should devote all of their attention to innovation, environment management policies and shareholder responsibility.

Research limitations/implications

These studies are primarily concerned with developed countries. And, the other fundamental constraint of the AHP study is that the rating scale adopted in the analysis is conceptual. Therefore, pairwise comparisons with a variety of indicators have the potential to introduce bias into the results.

Practical implications

This paper proposes a methodical and operational technique for selecting the ultimate priority of sustainability indicators when it comes to exploiting competitive information on business performance. The paper also recommended sustainability rating technique might be carried out once every six months to improve the overall quality and performance of the organization.

Originality/value

The advantages of adopting and executing corporate sustainability are enormous, and managers must determine whether sustainability is profitable or not. This question prompts further inquiries. For example, what are the numerous critical determinants of corporate sustainability performance? Several scholars throughout the world are looking at it for this reason. As a result, it is essential to comprehend and prioritize the various determinants of corporate sustainability performance.

Citation

Mal, H., Varma, M. and Vishvakarma, N.K. (2023), "An empirical study to prioritize the determinants of corporate sustainability performance using analytic hierarchy process", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 193-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBE-10-2021-0133