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The present paper contributes to the development of sustainable strategies by focusing on the social perspective and the role played by HRM. Specifically, we identified and compared the employee competencies that supported the compliance strategy as well as the innovative/proactive sustainability strategies – and their impacts on social outcomes.

After formulating hypotheses, we tested them on a sample of 179 companies from the chemical and metallurgical industries using the bootstrap method.

The results revealed that both sustainability strategies were present in the sample. The compliance sustainable strategy showed to be negatively associated with employee competencies, whilst proactive sustainable strategy firms presented a positive relationship with employee competencies. We also found that compliance strategies failed to have any impact on social outcomes, but proactive strategies had a positive effect on social outcomes. Indeed, normative and foresighted thinking competencies acted as mediating variables in such a relationship.

The originality of this paper lies in three aspects hitherto unaddressed in the literature: first, the conceptualisation and assessment of sustainable strategies focused on a social dimension; second, the identification of individual competencies required developing sustainable strategies; and third, the demonstration that it is only the firms that adopt proactive sustainable strategies that obtain positive social outcomes.

This paper empirically addresses the effect of coercive, normative and mimetic pressures on sustainability results, focussing on the three dimensions of the triple bottom line approach: environmental, economic and social. The mediating role of compliance, analyser or proactive corporate strategies towards sustainability is also considered.

The hypotheses developed in this study were tested using data from a sample of private companies from two industries: manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, and manufacture of basic metals.

The results confirm the role played by institutional pressures for sustainability in explaining the involvement of organisations in economic, social and environmental aspects. The mediating effect of corporate strategy is also confirmed, although only for environmental aspects.

Research into sustainability development is evolving rapidly; however, few studies have explored its diffusion amongst organisations from a triple bottom line perspective by considering the role of different current external pressures, the corporate strategy and the diverse results.

本研究擬對強制壓力、規範壓力和模仿壓力對可持續性成果的影響進行實證研究。研究的焦點放在三重底線法的三個層面上,即是環境層面、經濟層面和社會層面。研究人員亦探討尋求可持續性的承諾、分析儀和積極主動的公司戰略的中介作用。

研究人員測試其建立的各項假設; 使用的數據取自兩個企業的私人公司的樣本,它們是製造化學品和化學產品的企業,以及製造基本金屬的企業。

研究結果確認了尋求可持續性所帶來的制度壓力,在解說企業於經濟、社會和環境三方面的參與上所扮演的角色。研究結果亦確認了公司戰略的中介作用,唯這只見於環境的層面上。

探討可持續性發展的學術研究發展迅速,唯當中較少從三個基本的角度去探討可持續性發展在組織內的傳播; 本研究考慮了目前各種外來壓力、公司戰略和不同的結果所扮演的角色,以彌補這研究差距。

The purpose of this paper is to address the implementation of proactive interorganizational sustainable supply chain strategies by empirically exploring the relationship between key (inter‐)organizational resources of the initiating company and the establishment of widely accepted voluntary sustainability initiatives.

The study is built on comparative case studies as well as literature on institutional entrepreneurship and the resource‐based view.

The authors identify capabilities that enable the creation and establishment of company‐driven voluntary sustainability initiatives – namely external stakeholder integration, cross‐functional integration, the management of loosely coupled business units, supply chain implementation, process improvement and cultural framing.

With this study, the authors introduce institutional entrepreneurship theory to supply chain management literature and show that institutional entrepreneurship theory may contribute to the question of how organizations implement their interorganizational sustainable supply chain strategies. Specifically, the study derives propositions for key resources enabling the establishment of voluntary sustainability initiatives widely accepted by participants as well as initiative‐external stakeholders.

This paper argues that creative compliance tactics are an innovative union renewal strategy. Creative compliance involves the observance of the letter of the law while undermining its spirit. This regulatory inconsistency stems from indeterminate legal outcomes and discretion in legal interpretation and application. Drawing on interviews with senior union officials in four case studies in Australia, this paper reveals that two particular types of creative compliance tactics have been used by the unions to achieve positive outcomes: work-to-rule and the exploitation of loopholes. These opportunistic and proactive approaches to ‘anti-union’ legislation at the national level since 1997 represent a sea change in union tactics and a viable union renewal strategy, because they augment the individual ability of unions to shape and advance an agenda and therefore, adapt and transform at an organisational level. Consistent with adaptation theories on organisational-environment relations and strategic choice theory, the findings reinforce that unions ‘own’ strategic choices and that they can, in response to environmental scanning, adjust their tactics accordingly.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework which sheds new light on how sustainability control systems (SCS) can be used in proactive strategic responses to corporate sustainability pressures.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Corporate sustainability pressures are identified using insights from institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm.

Findings – The paper presents an integrated framework showing the corporate sustainability pressures, proactive strategic responses to these pressures, and how organizations might use SCS in their responses to the corporate sustainability pressures they face.

Practical Implications – The proposed framework shows how organizations can use SCS in proactive strategic responses to corporate sustainability pressures.

Originality/Value – The paper suggests that instead of using traditional financial-oriented management control systems, organizations need more focus on emerging SCS as a means of achieving sustainability objectives. In particular, the paper proposes different SCS tools that can be used in proactive strategic responses to sustainability pressures in terms of (i) specifying and communicating sustainability objectives, (ii) monitoring sustainability performance, and (iii) providing motivation by linking sustainability rewards to performance.

The purpose of this study is to determine the strategy adopted by small- and medium-scale enterprise (SME) owners in setting up internal control systems, examine the relationship between the numbers of employees’ fraud and strategy adopted in setting up internal control and evaluate the difference between proactive and reactive strategies in employee’s fraud prevention among SMEs.

A survey research approach was adopted to determine whether proactive or reactive strategies were adopted by the SME owners. Specifically, a survey questionnaire was used to gather primary data from selected respondents in Lagos and Oyo States. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation and the Mann–Whitney test were used to analyse the primary data.

The study found that most of the SME owners used reactive internal control strategies in setting up their internal control systems after they suffered financial losses occasioned by employees’ fraud. Also, the study found a positive relationship between the number of employees’ fraud and reactive strategy. Finally, the study found a significant difference in the number of employees’ fraud occurrences between proactive and reactive internal control strategies in SMEs.

The study provides further confirmation that where internal control is properly set up and strengthened, a lower number of employee frauds will occur. Thus, giving credence to the fraud theory. The study was, however, conducted in six selected local government areas in two states.

The study provides recommendations on the adoption of a proactive strategy for curbing employees’ fraud at the onset of business operations and not until devastating events of employees’ fraud become a reality.

The study is original, as it focuses on the strategy adopted by SME owners in setting up internal control systems, which is rare in fraud empirical studies, particularly for studies conducted in emerging markets like Nigeria. It provides the need for the sustainability of SMEs as engine of growth and employment through the adoption of appropriate strategies in setting up internal control systems.

The present study aims to identify and investigate the antecedents of enhanced level of cyber-security at the organisational level from both the technical and the human resource perspective using human–organisation–technology (HOT) theory.

The study has been conducted on 151 professionals who have expertise in dealing with cyber-security in organisations in sectors such as retail, education, healthcare, etc. in India. The analysis of the data is carried out using partial least squares based structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM).

The results from the study suggest that “legal consequences” and “technical measures” adopted for securing cyber-security in organisations are the most important antecedents for enhanced cyber-security levels in the organisations. The other significant antecedents for enhanced cyber-security in organisations include “role of senior management” and “proactive information security”.

This empirical study has significant implications for organisations as they can take pre-emptive measures by focussing on important antecedents and work towards enhancing the level of cyber-security.

The originality of this research is combining both technical and human resource perspective in identifying the determinants of enhanced level of cyber-security in the organisations.

Driving for work has been identified as potentially one of the riskiest activities performed by workers within the course of their working day. Jurisdictions around the world have passed legislation and adopted policy and procedures to improve the safety of workers. However, particularly within the work driving setting, complying with legislation and the minimum safety standards and procedures is not sufficient to improve work driving safety. This chapter outlines the manner in which safety citizenship behavior can offer further improvement to work-related driving safety by acting as a complementary paradigm to improve risk management and current models and applications of safety culture.

Research on concepts associated with risk management and theoretical frameworks associated with safety culture and safety citizenship behavior are reviewed, along with their practical application within the work driving safety setting. A model incorporating safety citizenship behavior as a complementary paradigm to safety culture is proposed. It is suggested that this model provides a theoretical framework to inform future research directions aimed at improving safety within the work driving setting.

Explores the interrelationships between environmental issues and manufacturing strategy. Based on the theoretical underpinnings of previous work in the field of manufacturing strategy and insights from an open‐ended and exploratory survey of strategic decision makers in a wide variety of manufacturing settings, attempts to illustrate the potential synergies between environmental management and manufacturing strategy. Expands the models of Wheelwright and Hayes (1985) and Hill (1994) in order to suggest that operational excellence may provide leverage towards environmental excellence for manufacturers.

This invited article explores current developments in supply chain risk management (SCRM) practices by revisiting the classical case of Ericsson (Norrman and Jansson, 2004) after 15 years, and updating its case description and analysis of its organizational structure, processes and tools for SCRM.

An exploratory case study is conducted with a longitudinal focus, aiming to understand both proactive and reactive SCRM practices using a holistic perspective of a real-life example.

The study demonstrates how Ericsson's SCRM practices have developed, indicating that improved functional capabilities are increasingly combined across silos and leveraged by formalized learning processes. Important enablers are IT capabilities, a fine-grained and cross-functional organization, and a focus on monitoring and compliance. Major developments in SCRM are often triggered by incidents, but also by requirements from external stakeholders and new corporate leaders actively focusing on SCRM and related activities.

Relevant areas for future research are proposed, thereby increasing the knowledge of how companies can develop SCRM practices and capabilities further.

Being one of few in-depth holistic case studies of SCRM, decision-makers can learn about many practices and tools. Of special interest is the detailed description of how Ericsson reactively responded to the Fukushima incident (2011), and how it proactively engaged in monitoring and assessment activities. It is also exemplified how SCRM practices could continuously be developed to make them “stick” to the organization, even in stable times.

This is one of the first case studies to delve deeper into the development of SCRM practices through taking a longitudinal approach.