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Despite differing strategies towards environmental sustainability in developed and developing nations, the manufacturing sector in these regional domains faces substantial environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to examine the green-lean-six sigma (GLSS) enablers and outcomes for enhancing environmental sustainability of manufacturing firms in both, a developed and developing country context by using an environment-centric natural resource-based view (NRBV).

First, a framework of GLSS enablers and outcomes aligned with the NRBV strategic capabilities is proposed through a systematic literature review. Second, this framework is used to empirically investigate the GLSS enablers and outcomes of manufacturing firms through in-depth interviews with lean six sigma and environmental consultants from New Zealand (NZ) and Pakistan (PK) (developed and developing nations).

Analysis from both regional domains highlights the use of GLSS enablers and outcomes under different NRBV capabilities of pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development. A comparison reveals that NZ firms practice GLSS to comply with environmental regulatory requirements, avoid penalties and maintain their clean-green image. Conversely, Pakistani firms execute GLSS to reduce energy use, satisfy international customers and create a green image.

This paper provides new insights on GLSS for environmental sustainability which can assist industrial experts and academia for future strategies and research.

This is one of the early comparative studies that has used the NRBV to investigate GLSS enablers and outcomes in manufacturing firms for enhancing environmental performance comparing developed and developing nations

Manufacturing companies continue to encounter a diverse set of obstacles while embracing sustainable development goals. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to explore critical sustainable development-related barriers to flexible packaging manufacturing companies in the New Zealand context.

Drawing on a qualitative multiple case studies approach, the authors collected data from the New Zealand flexible packaging industry. Semistructured interviews were conducted with the senior corporate managers in two large flexible packaging companies. Following the thematic analysis approach, the authors analyzed the information collected from the participants and synthesized our findings under the key dimensions of internal and external barriers to sustainable development.

The findings revealed that internal barriers to sustainable flexible packaging are linked to economic, operational and technical issues. Conversely, external barriers include global crises and disruption, customer behavior and preferences and institutional and infrastructural-related aspects. Based on the analysis of empirical findings, the authors further identified the underlying reasons for sustainable flexible packaging barriers and recommended guidelines that could assist corporate managers and policymakers in addressing obstacles inhibiting the flexible packaging industry from adopting sustainable business practices.

The authors argue that this study is one of the early studies to consider inhibiting factors to incorporate sustainable development into the New Zealand flexible packaging industry context. Building on a range of theoretical perspectives, the authors extend the current body of knowledge seeking to advance the sustainable development agenda in the New Zealand flexible packaging industry and offer recommended pathways fostering sustainable development in a distinctive manufacturing context.

This study aims to respond to calls for more research to understand how sustainability control systems (SCSs) feature (or do not feature) in short-term operational and long-term strategic decision-making.

An in-depth case study of a large multinational organisation undertaking several rounds of sustainability reporting is presented. Data collection was extensive including 26 semi-structured interviews with a range of employees from senior management to facility employees, access to confidential reports and internal documents and attendance of company meetings, including an external stakeholder engagement meeting and the attendance of the company’s annual environmental meeting. A descriptive, analytical and explanatory analysis is performed on the case context (Pfister et al., 2022).

Simon’s (1995) levers of control framework structures our discussion. The case company has sophisticated and formalised diagnostic controls and strong belief and boundary systems. Conventional management controls and SCSs are used in short-term operational decision-making, although differences between financial imperatives and other aspects such as environmental concerns are difficult to reconcile. SCSs also provided information to justify company actions in short-term decisions that impacted stakeholders. However, SCSs played a very limited role in the long-term strategic decision. Tensions between social, environmental and economic factors are more reconcilable in the long-term strategic decision, where holistic risks and opportunities need to be fully identified. External reporting is seen in a “constraining” light (Tessier and Otley, 2012), and intentionally de-coupled from SCSs.

This paper responds to recent calls for rich, holistic and contextually-grounded perspectives of sustainability processes at an extractives company. The study provides novel insight into how SCSs are used (or not used) in short-term or long-term decision-making and external reporting. The paper illustrates how a large company is responding to sustainability pressures within the unique contextual setting of New Zealand. The study outlines the imitations of existing practice and provides implications for how sustainability-based internal controls can be better embedded into organisations.

This study investigates the influence of consumption values on green Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) purchase behaviour in the context of green household cleaning products in the Western Province of Sri Lanka.

We used the survey strategy and 326 effective responses as the sample of this study.

Our findings reveal that specific consumption values, specifically functional, conditional and epistemic values, significantly impact green FMCG purchase behavior towards green household cleaning products. However, social and emotional values did not substantially influence this behavior.

The results of our study suggest practical implications for green FMCG marketers aiming to boost consumer adoption of green household cleaning products in Sri Lanka. To achieve this, marketers should focus on enhancing consumer value perceptions and strategically emphasize the consumption values consumers prioritize. Green FMCG marketers have a competitive advantage in the Sri Lankan market by doing so.

This research addresses a notable gap in the literature concerning green FMCG purchase behavior related to green household cleaning products within international and local contexts. Furthermore, this study distinguishes itself by adopting the Theory of Consumption Values as its foundational theory, offering fresh insights compared to previous research employing alternate theories, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Theory of Reasoned Action, to examine similar phenomena.

Understanding the role of corporate strategies in sustainability has become a hot topic for scholarly research. Meanwhile, firms strive to innovate and shape their positive image in the contemporary business arena. Past research has ignored investigating whether and how sustainability-oriented corporate strategies could drive innovation and firm image among external stakeholders. To address the said research gap, this paper examines the path through which sustainability-oriented corporate strategy and environmental regulation improve green corporate image and green innovation capabilities (i.e. green process and product innovation).

This study adopted a quantitative survey-based method. The online survey was adopted to collect data from employees working at the managerial level in the equipment manufacturing sector. The data collected from 343 managers that was complete in all aspects was used for empirical analysis using structural equation modeling. Direct and indirect relations were evaluated.

The findings reveal that sustainability-oriented corporate strategy and environmental regulation drive green innovation and green corporate image. Findings further show that external knowledge adoption underpins these effects of sustainability-oriented corporate strategy and environmental regulation.

The study delivers theoretical and practical understandings of the importance of sustainability-oriented corporate strategies to green corporate image and green innovation capabilities.

Green practices are essential for sustainability. However, it is challenging due to the socioeconomic and environmental concerns. Similarly, after the induced SDG-12 and SDG-13 by United Nations, the pressure groups forced manufacturers to consider sustainability. Therefore, this research aims to examine the sustainability through multifaceted green functions in manufacturing is examined.

Data were collected from 293 supply chain professionals of manufacturers from a developing economy. Hypotheses were tested through a quantitative method using partial least squares-structural equation modeling with the help of SmartPLS version 4 to validate the measurement model.

The findings revealed that all six direct hypotheses were supported. However, out of four hypotheses of mediation, one was not supported. Besides, a sequential mediation of green supply chain environmental cooperation and green human resource management was supported. The findings illustrated that green supply chain practices positively influence all used variables.

This research provides practical insight to practitioners to implement green practices in their supply chain networks for social, economic and environmental sustainability and compliance with SDG-12 and SDG-13. The sustainability was validated in a higher-order construct (HOC) (formative), including sequential mediation in the model with the support of resource dependency theory. Therefore, this study adds substantial literature to the existing body of knowledge.

This research provides an interdisciplinary framework by adding knowledge to the Resource Dependency Theory to address Sustainable Development Goals-12 (SDGs) and SDG-13. Likewise, this research provides an extension towards the body of knowledge on the issue, which can be used in future research and critical examinations for cleaner and sustainable production. So far, in Pakistan, no research has looked at the function of these integrated variables in the manufacturing industry with a diligent focus on sustainability as it was validated in a higher-order construct (formative) with one sequential mediation, which makes this research unique.

This study aims to offer the intellectual structure and dynamics of the sustainability branding field, involving the identification of influential authors and journals, current and emerging themes, theories, methods, contexts and future research directions.

The study conducted a bibliometric approach of 1,509 articles retrieved from Scopus to analyze the evolution of the knowledge of sustainability branding and suggest future research. The analysis used various methods such as performance analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis and bibliographic coupling.

The topics of corporate image, philanthropy and stakeholder pressures were core in the foundation phase. Then rose the topics of sustainable development goals and global supply chains. Green marketing and the new paradigms of circularity, ethical consumerism and hyperconnected societies emerged more recently. Six thematic clusters represent the field’s knowledge structure: (1) corporate branding and reputation, (2) sustainable business development, (3) sustainable branding and ethical consumption, (4) corporate social responsibility, (5) brand equity and green marketing and (6) sustainability branding in hospitality and tourism.

This paper provides readers with an overview of sustainability branding core themes, key contributions and challenges, which can be used as a toolkit for brand management studies and practice.

The study’s uniqueness lies in bibliometric analysis (combined with network analysis and science mapping techniques) of the sustainability branding field from the identification and evolution of the thematic clusters to propose future research directions.

Sustainable tourism is becoming more popular all over the world. Eco-friendly (green) hotels are properties that are friendly to the environment and are becoming increasingly popular among green travellers. Electronic word-of-mouth is a technique of communicating with consumers in order to share their experiences, and it is a significant marketing tool for hotels. This paper aims to identify the main themes shared in online reviews by tourists visiting eco-friendly hotels, and which of these themes were associated with satisfaction and dissatisfaction ratings.

The research used qualitative content analyses to analyse 1,202 user-generated content of the top 10 hotels in UK shared by guests on an online platform.

The analyses revealed nine themes in descriptions of airline travel experiences. These are “hotel amenities”, “services”, “location”, “staff”, “eco” (eco-friendly activities), “value” and “recommend/revisit” (intentions). Negative comments are associated with the “bathroom”, “mattress”, “water”, “bed”, “price”, “shower”, “Wi-Fi” and “restaurant” concepts.

This study differs from previous research in which it aims to address a void in the literature on the shortcomings of research focused on finding the dominant themes expressed in online reviews by tourists visiting eco-friendly hotels, and it does so using data mining approach.

The firms’ adoption and improvement of big data analytics capabilities to improve economic and environmental performance have recently increased. This makes it important to discover the underlying mechanism influencing the association between big data analytics (BDA) and economic and environmental performance, which is missing in the existing literature. The present study discovers the indirect effect of green innovation (GI) and the moderating role of corporate green image (CgI) on the impact of BDA capabilities, including big data management capability (MC) and big data talent capability (TC), on economic and environmental performance.

A time-lagged design was employed to collect data from 417 manufacturing firms, and study hypotheses were evaluated using Mplus.

The empirical outcomes indicate that both BDA capabilities of firms significantly influence green innovation (GI), which significantly mediates the relationship between BDA and economic and environmental performance. Our findings also revealed that CgI strengthened the effect of GI on economic and environmental performance. The empirical evidence provides important theoretical and practical repercussions for manufacturing SMEs and policymakers.

This study contributes to the literature on BDA by empirically exploring the effects of MC and TC on improving the EcP and EnP of manufacturing firms. It does so through the indirect impact of GIs and the moderating effect of CgI, thereby extending the Dynamic capabilities view (DCV) paradigm.

Environmental issues have triggered the need for sustainable behavior around the globe. The tourism industry’s rapid growth also contributes to environmental degradation through natural resource depletion and excess water and energy utilization. Based on social identity theory, this study aims to assess the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives on green customers’ citizenship behavior. Furthermore, the study assesses the mediating effects of green trust, customer–company identification and green image.

This study is a quantitative approach, and purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data from the hotels’ customers from northern areas of Pakistan. This study used partial least square-structural equation modeling to analyze the data of 426 customers.

The study’s findings show that environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives significantly impact green customers’ citizenship behavior, green trust, customer–company identification and green corporate image. However, the relationship between green corporate image and green customers’ citizenship behavior was insignificant. Furthermore, the study’s results revealed that green trust and customer–company identification partially mediate between environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior.

The findings suggest that hotels’ environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives improve green customer citizenship behavior, green trust and enhance customer–company identification. Therefore, hotel industry managers should consider reinforcing existing environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and make further efforts to highlight the importance of such initiatives for environmental sustainability, which ultimately affects customers’ green customer citizenship behavior.

This research developed a novel framework to understand green customers’ citizenship behavior in the tourism industry. It extended the literature on environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior. In addition, the research adds value by confirming the significant direct and mediating role of customer–company identification in tourism industry context.