Search results

The purpose of this paper is to validate a triple bottom line (TBL) construct, as well as to describe the TBL reasons for implementing sustainable business practices in companies and their business networks.

This study reports on the validation of a TBL construct, in a Spanish context, of a study originally conducted in Norway. In this validation study, 230 companies were selected for participation. A total of 89 usable questionnaires were returned, generating a response rate of 38.5 per cent.

The empirical findings indicate major similarities and minor differences between organizations in Spain and Norway across two studies. By extension, the empirical findings appear to be valid and reliable across contexts and through time.

This study explains the structural properties of the main reasons for business sustainability (economic, social and environmental) and business sustainability efforts in companies and the supply chains or business networks.

Business sustainability efforts need to be assessed in a systematic manner, and the validated TBL construct offers a foundation for doing this, though it needs to be complemented with other elements and details in connection with business sustainability.

Business sustainability efforts have been evolving over time and are increasingly seen to consider economic viability, as well as environmental sustainability and social responsibility. This study deals with how these elements of TBL are interrelated with respect to business sustainability.

This study aims to validate a research model testing trust and commitment as mediators between economic and non-economic satisfaction in sales manager business to business (B2B) relationships.

Based on a broad range of 242 small-, medium- and large-sized Spanish companies, the data analysis used structural equation modeling by means of the SPSS/AMOS 26.0 software.

The findings confirm that trust and commitment serve as mediators between economic and non-economic satisfaction in business channel relationships, when adopting a sales perspective.

This study provides managerial support and guidance for assessing satisfaction, trust and commitment from a sales manager perspective in business channel relationships, to create and maintain long-term exchange relationships, with mutual benefits extending to other partners.

The findings shed light on the confusion regarding the nomological framework in models related to the quality of B2B relationships, thus confirming the mediating role of trust and commitment between economic and non-economic satisfaction in business channel relationships, following a sales perspective and considering the dual nature of satisfaction, distinguishing between economic and non-economic satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to frame the development and directions of business sustainability efforts.

A qualitative study was undertaken with respect to a convenience sample of reputable companies in Norway, which have implemented significant business sustainability efforts within their organisations, their business networks, the marketplace and in the society, beyond the level of mere compliance.

Different directions are associated with the development of corporate efforts in connection with business sustainability. Business sustainability efforts are not static, but dynamic and based upon continuous flexibility to changes and adaptations over time.

The current study highlights the need for further research into the development and directions of corporate efforts in connection with business sustainability in the marketplace and society. A key suggestion for further research is to further explore the existence of other directions.

The directions reported, provide a framework to assess the development or the status of companies’ business sustainability efforts in the marketplace and society. Corporate efforts in connection with business sustainability develop over time as experiences are gained and personal impressions move the identified directions forward.

This study contributes to seven interconnected directions of corporate efforts in connection with business sustainability that are both relevant and potentially fruitful to both scholars and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent that a selection of economic, social and environmental factors is taken into corporate consideration (importance and priority) the longitudinal aspects of sustainable business practices.

This study is based on an inductive approach taking into account the longitudinal aspects and an in-depth case study of a Scandinavian manufacturer recognized for its initiatives and achievements of sustainable business practices.

The key informants indicated that economic factors are always important when it comes to sustainable business practices, social factors are to some extent important, and the environmental factors are generally important.

The planning, implementation and follow-up of sustainable business practices and related efforts require a consideration of economic, social and environmental factors.

The framework of a triple bottom line (TBL) dominant logic for business sustainability applied may guide the corporate assessment to plan, implement and follow-up the importance and priority of the longitudinal aspects of sustainable business practices.

A TBL dominant logic for sustainable business practices adequately frames corporate efforts regarding importance and priority making a relevant contribution addressing the longitudinal aspects to complement existing theory and previous studies.

This study aims to examine the role of salespeople’s skills in relative and absolute SP in business-to-business (B2B) settings of services firms. This conceptual logic reported in meta-analytical works, that salespeople’s skills relate directly to their sales performance (SP), is questioned.

his research relies on existing theory and previous studies on SP drivers and SP measures. The literature identifies a set of common denominators on the role of salespeople’s skills regarding their SP, all of which are tested in this study. Based on a deductive approach and questionnaire survey, 732 service firms in Norway were targeted. A total of 389 questionnaires were returned, generating a response rate of 53.1%.

A total of 10 out of 12 hypothesized relationships in the research model dealing with the relationship between SP drivers and SP turn out to be non-significant. The hypothesized relationship in the research model between relative and absolute SP is also supported.

The results reported in this study, based on a large sample of service firms, empirically confirm that the direct effect is generally overestimated. Empirical evidence is provided that sheds additional light on the role of salespeople’s skills in relative and absolute SP in B2B settings of services firms.

This study offers meaningful and relevant insights into the monitoring of SP drivers to practitioners in B2B sales settings of services firms. Salespeople need to learn about gathering knowledge in training programs about each customer and their specific situation. Firms should strive to recruit salespeople who possess the appropriate skills, taking into consideration their customers and specific situations related to them, such as experiences from competitors. Salespeople may be organized around similar customers and similar customer situations, rather than geographical assignments.

Overall, this research contributes insights into the role played by salespeople’s skills in relative and absolute SP in B2B settings of services firms. In particular, the research contributes additional insights into the non-existent role of interpersonal presentation and communication skills, adaptiveness of sales approach and sales behavior skills and product/technology-related knowledge skills in salespeople’s relative and absolute SP in B2B settings of services firms.

This study explores a seller’s perspective in business relationships to validate whether the findings reported in previous studies based on buyer business relationships apply to seller business relationships. The purpose of this study is to test whether satisfaction functions as a connector between positive antecedents (trust and commitment) and negative postcedents (opportunism and conflict) in a business-to-business (B2B) relationship, based on a seller perspective.

A descriptive research design was applied and data was collected from Norwegian companies from the database of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator. Respondents (Sales or Marketing Managers/Directors or Key Account Managers) were asked to identify one main business customer with whom they had interacted in the past year. A total of 213 responses could be used for data analysis. In addition, the measurement and structural models were assessed.

Trust was established as a positive alter ego of opportunism and opportunism as a negative alter ego of trust. The commitment was also determined to be a positive alter ego of conflict, with conflict being a negative alter ego of commitment. Furthermore, it was proven that alter egos are not opposites, but facets of antecedents and postcedents in relation to a connector, satisfaction.

The tested model endorses the hypothesised relationships between trust, commitment, satisfaction, opportunism and conflict in Norwegian B2B relationships. Satisfaction is linked to its two antecedents and its outcomes and the hypothesised relationship between opportunism and conflict is also endorsed from a seller’s perspective in B2B relationships.

The findings can assist the B2B industry to understand how trust and commitment foster satisfaction, how satisfaction influences opportunism and conflict, and how opportunism relates to conflict in a seller-business relationship.

No previous study has focussed on relationship marketing in B2B relationships from a seller’s perspective to establish whether satisfaction functions as a connector between trust and commitment and opportunism and conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the similarities and differences relating to sustainability initiatives between health-care organizations. The aim is to provide a framework of factors and their determinants to enable a profiling of organizational sustainability initiatives.

Based on an inductive approach, judgmental sampling was applied to select relevant health-care organizations. Informants were identified according to their knowledge of their organizations’ sustainability initiatives.

Several factors and their determinants for characterizing differences and similarities were found. The results also reveal that organizational sustainability initiatives are either value-driven or business-driven.

The reported framework of factors and their determinants serves the purpose of profiling organizational sustainability initiatives. Opportunities for further research are provided.

This paper provides managerial guidance for characterizing the differences and similarities with respect to organizational sustainability initiatives in relation to other organizations.

This study establishes a framework for characterizing organizational sustainability initiatives. It also contributes to reveal whether organizational sustainability initiatives are value – or business-driven and considers intrinsic-oriented differences and extrinsic-oriented similarities.

The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between objective and subjective sales performance and salespeople’s economic and non-economic satisfaction in a sequential logic model.

Based on a questionnaire survey using a deductive approach. A total of 315 companies were ultimately selected for participation in the study, to represent a range of companies from different industries and company sizes in the product-oriented business sector of Norway. A total of 236 questionnaires were returned, generating a response rate of 74.9%.

The sequential logic of objective and subjective sales performance, in connection with salespeople’s economic and non-economic satisfaction, reveals an underlying structure that can link existing theory and previous studies on sales performance and salesperson satisfaction in business-to-business (B2B) settings.

The results reported applying only to a B2B setting, to test whether the sequential logic model and mediating effects still hold in such setting. This study is also limited to product-oriented companies in Norway, which offers the opportunity for a future study to verify whether the refined research model also applies to service-oriented companies.

The results indicate that the constructs of objective and subjective sales performance and salespeoplés economic and non-economic satisfaction are intertwined in a B2B setting. Specifically, these constructs are related to one another sequentially.

Contributes to structuring in a B2B setting, the relationships between objective and subjective sales performance on the one hand and salespeoplés economic and non-economic satisfaction on the other. It also highlights two mediating effects, namely, subjective sales performance mediates the relationship effect between objective sales performance and salespeoplés economic satisfaction and salespeople economic’s satisfaction mediates the relationship effect between subjective sales performance and salespeople’s non-economic satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to validate or refute the previous empirical findings of a TBL dominant logic for business sustainability and to expand the TBL dominant logic for business sustainability with additional dimensions and items. The study aims to provide bottom-up-based multi-dimensional framework in relation to the sustainable development goals (SDG) of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

Key corporate informants in top Spanish companies were requested to participate in the study. A total of 89 usable questionnaires were returned, generating an initial response rate of 42.4%.

A framework for a TBL-dominant logic in the context of business sustainability has been empirically tested successfully across contexts and through time, thus providing substantiation for universal applicability.

This study provides a relevant and important substantiation for validity and reliability across contexts and through time. It is important in research to establish a theoretical framework at the corporate level for business sustainability in connection with SDGs. This study is not without its limitations, but offers opportunities for further research.

The framework provides practitioners with a foundation to assess their efforts at business sustainability, taking into account a broad selection of aspects across environmental, social and economic elements that contribute to SDGs.

This study makes two relevant and valuable contributions to developing a framework of TBL dominant logic for business sustainability, namely, validation and expansion. It offers also multiple opportunities for both research and practice to assess business sustainability efforts across environmental, social and economic aspects in relation to SDGs.

The purpose of this study is two-fold: to determine the extent to which companies’ efforts aimed at sustainable business practices consider stakeholders in their organisations and business networks, the marketplace and society; and to validate or refute a stakeholder framework of business sustainability efforts within focal companies, the marketplace, society and business networks.

The study is based on a questionnaire survey targeting large companies across industries and sectors in Spain. The sample consisted of 231 companies generating a useable response rate of 38.5 per cent. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on a cross-industry sample to test a five-dimensional framework.

This study reports on the validation of initial and refined factor solutions. The factor analysis confirmed five stakeholder dimensions related to business sustainability efforts of organisations, their business networks, marketplace and society. The validated results indicate satisfactory convergent, discriminant and nomological validity and reliability through time and across contexts.

The stakeholder framework in connection with business sustainability efforts in supply chains consisting of five factors was validated: the focal company, downstream stakeholders, societal stakeholders, market stakeholders and upstream stakeholders. Suggestion for further research is provided.

The validated framework of stakeholders allows an insight into the environment in which stakeholders operate and how they influence the focal company.

The manuscript contributes to the validation of a stakeholder framework of business sustainability efforts within focal companies, their business networks, the marketplace and society. The measurement properties provide support for acceptable validity and reliability across contexts and through time.