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This Special Issue is intended to heighten awareness of the importance of organizational learning in addressing the demands of organizational sustainability, and in particular triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability. A definition of TBL sustainability is provided, together with an exploration of the practical issues relevant to adopting organizational learning in addressing it. By exploring research and practitioner viewpoints bearing on sustainability‐related applications of organizational learning, this Special Issue aims to help organizations remove barriers to achieving sustainability goals and catalyze the progress for an organization on its sustainability journey.

General sustainability‐related concerns and challenges associated with organizational learning are reviewed, and individual authors voice their understanding of the application of organizational leaning to particular aspects of sustainability based on their research, their case studies, and the extant literature.

Findings include enhanced understanding of the incompatibility of single‐ and double loop learning in TBL sustainability contexts, and the required emphasis on double‐loop learning to progress sustainability aims successfully. The effectiveness of dialogic interaction is described in achieving a transition towards sustainability in people, organizations and society as a whole. How individual worldviews called “our ecological selves” allow creation of the conditions for confronting global environmental challenges is explained. Contributions are made to the understanding of hybrid organizations through the case of a Brazilian networked organization, and a paradox view of management based on the theories of organizational learning and managerial cybernetics is applied to enlighten the understanding of sustainability. The learning and adaptive system of the US commercial aviation industry is explored and the application of such a system in an organization operating according to triple bottom line sustainability principles is described.

The opinions and research presented provide new and unique understanding of how organizational learning may contribute to organizational sustainability. Further value is added via the assessment of means to progress the sustainability ideal, the identification of barriers, and the many practical examples of means to facilitate progress toward that ideal.

Sustainability is an emotional issue. It is also an issue that is gaining prominence in organizational agendas. In this chapter, we outline a model to explain how employees perceive change agents working to implement sustainability initiatives in organizations. Using this model, we argue that organizational support for sustainability can influence how employees respond to sustainability messages. We further argue that the intensity of emotions that change agents display, and how appropriate those emotions are within the organizational context, will influence how employees perceive those individuals and the success of their efforts to influence green outcomes.

We extend the Dual Threshold Model of emotions (DTM: Geddes & Callister, 2007) to assess the impact of displays of emotional intensity on achieving sustainability goals. Our model links emotional propriety to change agent success. By exploring variations of the DTM in terms of contextual factors and emotional intensity, our model elaborates on the dynamic nature of emotional thresholds.

Using our framework, change agents may be able to improve their influence by matching the emotional intensity of their messages to the relevant display rules for that organization. That is, change agents who are perceived to express emotion within the thresholds of propriety can enhance their success in implementing green outcomes.

This chapter examines sustainability initiatives at the interpersonal behavior level. We combine aspects of organizational behavior, emotion in organizations, and organizations and the natural environment to create a new model for understanding change agent success in corporate sustainability.

This paper aims to narrow the gap caused by the lack of literature relating the three concepts of corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose in the context of corporations. A framework that explains how these three concepts are related and effectively merged for long-term corporate survival are proposed.

A systematic review is carried out. It is explained, first, initial search strategies to identify those documents that define each concept and to identify concepts with which each concept is associated. Subsequently, it is designed a search strategy combining all three concepts and their associated concepts to gather and analyze all the possible studies that have tried to connect these concepts. Finally, it is identified some gaps in the understanding of how these three concepts are related.

Results indicate that corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose merge to achieve long-term corporate survival. There exists a two-way relationship between these three variables. Findings also present gaps and future directions that should be addressed to foster an increase in knowledge about the relationships between corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose.

Nowadays, some authors endeavor to explain how aspects such as corporate sustainability, organizational resilience and corporate purpose are crucial in the dynamic environment facing corporations every day. Nevertheless, there needs to be more understanding of how these three concepts are related and effectively merged for long-term corporate survival. This paper contributes to the literature by closing this gap.

This paper aims to emphasize integrating training for organizational sustainability with the United Nation’s (UN’s) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It shows how SDGs can be included in the training, development programs and incentives to promote sustainable practices. It guides organizations to set long-term sustainability objectives to stay competitive and adapt to changing conditions.

The paper conducts a review of the literature on the topic of integrating training for organizational sustainability with the SDGs. The research includes investigating the 17 SDGs and their specific areas of improvement, the benefits and challenges of integrating training for organizational sustainability with the SDGs and the best practices of organizations that have successfully integrated training for organizational sustainability with the SDGs.

The findings of this study were obtained through a systematic review of literature on the topics of human resource development, corporate social responsibility, organizational sustainability and the integration of training to promote sustainable and ethical behavior. A total of 36 articles were selected from a pool of 120 articles identified through a comprehensive search of electronic databases such as Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The selected articles were analyzed in detail, and information from the UN was also incorporated into the analysis. The review focused on examining the impact of integrating sustainability training with the SDGs on organizational sustainability. The results of this analysis suggest that integrating sustainability training with SDGs has a positive impact on organizations. This impact includes promoting sustainable practices, improving employee satisfaction and productivity, reducing environmental impact and enhancing the organization’s reputation. The study found that regular progress reviews and long-term objectives are essential for organizations to remain competitive and adapt to changes.

This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the 17 SDGs and how they can be integrated with training for organizational sustainability. It provides practical guidance for organizations on effectively incorporating the SDGs into their training and development programs, performance evaluations and incentives. The paper also includes case studies and best practices of organizations that have successfully integrated training for organizational sustainability with the SDGs, making it an original and valuable resource for organizations looking to promote sustainable practices within their operations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the links between knowledge risks, organizational performance and knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs)' sustainability.

A questionnaire was administered with a sample of 427 respondents from Lebanon. The gathered data were analyzed using SEM approach.

The empirical evidence confirms the potential role of knowledge risks in reducing the sustainability of firms. Furthermore, organizational performance was revealed to partially mediate the relationship between knowledge risks and sustainability.

The study's findings inspire managers of KIFs to use effective knowledge management practices to mitigate potential knowledge risks.

Knowledge risks and knowledge risk management are still unexplored in the literature. This paper is a pioneering study that advances the knowledge management field by emphasizing the significance of knowledge risks and their influence on the performance and sustainability of KIFs in Lebanon, a country with a culture distinct from that of Western contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretically informed analysis of the evolution of environmental management accounting (EMA) and social and environmental reporting (SER), and the accompanying development of a sustainability programme, in a large family-owned, unlisted corporation.

A longitudinal case study based on semi-structured interviews and documentary data was conducted. The main periods of fieldwork were carried out in 2007 and between 2010 and 2012. Sustainability reports were collected until 2019 when SER appeared to cease. The case analysis draws on the concepts of organisational identity (OI) and internal legitimacy (IL) to examine the decision-making and actions of a range of key organisational actors as they engage with EMA and SER.

The study demonstrates that a gap between an organisation’s identity claims (“who we are”) and its enacted identity (“what we do”) can enable the adoption of constitutive, performative and representational EMA and SER. It illuminates the nature of the role of key actors and organisational dynamics, in the form of OI and IL, in adapting these practices. It also demonstrates that, in giving meaning to the concept of sustainability, organisational actors can draw on their organisation’s identity and construct the comprehensibility of an organisational sustainability programme.

More empirical work is needed to examine the applicability of OI and IL to other settings. It would also be beneficial to examine the potential for OI work to allow organisations to change and reinvent themselves in response to the evermore pressing environmental crisis and the role, if any, of EMA in this process.

The study enriches our understanding of why and how EMA and SER evolve by demonstrating that paying attention to OI and IL can provide further insight into the decision-making and actions of organisational members as they recognise, evaluate, support and cease these practices.

The purpose of this study determines how environmental management control system (MCS) packages influence ecological sustainability and sustainable performance through the mediating role of environmental strategies. Furthermore, this applies organizational capabilities as moderating variables between environmental strategies, ecological sustainability and sustainable performance in a sample of 373 construction firms.

The authors apply quantitative questionnaire data from construction firm representatives (from project, sales and construction managers and contract managers, executive directors and engineers) to structural equation modeling and SmartPLS for our analysis.

The results demonstrate that recourse to environmental MCS packages significantly influence ecological sustainability, sustainable performance and environmental strategies. Additionally, environmental strategies and organizational capabilities significantly influence ecological sustainability and sustainable performance. Moreover, environmental strategies mediate between environmental MCS packages, ecological sustainability and sustainable performance. Organizational capabilities significantly moderate the relationship between ecological sustainability and sustainable performance.

This research highlights the issue of how the management of construction organizations deploy environmental MCS packages, organizational capabilities and business strategies to measure ecological sustainability and improve their sustainable performance. This study fills a gap in the literature and facilitates the management of construction organizations in strengthening their internal resources in terms of environmental MCS packages, environmental strategies and organizational capabilities able to help improve their ecological sustainability and sustainable performance.

There are few studies building theoretical frameworks for incorporating environmental MCS packages, organizational capabilities, environmental strategies, ecological sustainability and sustainable performance into a single study. Although the influence of various types of intangible resources on ecological sustainability and sustainable performance receive considerable examination in the literature, there is a dearth of attention paid to understanding the role of environmental MCS packages, environmental strategies and organizational capabilities in determining the ecological sustainability and sustainable performance of construction organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to identify how human competences are associated with sustainable strategic management (SSM) within organisations.

This is a qualitative study in two phases: first, a theoretical phase is developed, resulting in a proposal for the role of human competences in organisational sustainability; second, an empirical phase including instrumental case studies of two large, sustainability-oriented Brazilian companies. Data were obtained from interviews and companies’ reports. The authors used Atlas.ti software to perform the thematic content analysis.

Despite the importance of human competences in SSM, the authors find evidence that this concept has not been developed, even for companies with a consolidated position in sustainability. Human competences are a requirement for effective SSM.

Coexisting elements within an organisation, often referred to as elements of organisational and human behaviour, can influence the dynamics of the expected interrelationships between human competences and sustainability management, in addition to the influencing factors presented in this study.

In general, studies advocate that the relationships among organisational competences, human competences and organisational strategies must be aligned and reinforced. Nevertheless, these relationships are not that solid as they should be as stated in both the literature and the conventional discourse of practitioners.

The unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has posed an enormous challenge ever for health-care organisations to find strategies to deal with their survival. The health-care employees are the frontline soldiers to fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, there is a lack of research regarding the conceptualisation of COVID-19 and its impact on health-care employees’ well-being and their organisational sustainability. Extending the role of responsible leadership (RL), the purpose of this paper is to develop a multi-level conceptual model to overcome the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic and promote employee (e.g. workers, nurses and professionals) well-being and organisational sustainability.

With a comprehensive literature review, this paper presents five testable propositions and highlights the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on employee well-being and organisational sustainability.

The proposed model counsels that organisations need to go beyond the simple application of strategic climate and should enable RL to protect and maintain employee well-being and organisational sustainability.

The proposed conceptual model is a step forward to not only explore future empirical research but also it will help the health-care policymakers to take responsible initiatives to increase employee well-being and uphold organisational sustainability.

There is a lack of research regarding the conceptualisation of the COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on health-care employees’ well-being and organisational sustainability. The proposed conceptual model opens and guides a novel research avenue for the alignment of strategic management (as a moderator) and RL on the relationships among the COVID-19 pandemic, employee well-being and organisational sustainability.

This paper aims to propose a modeling and decision-making framework for organizational sustainability excellence of construction firms. This research aims to find how construction organizations can achieve excellence in terms of corporate sustainability.

This paper first reviews the literature of organizational sustainability maturity, and then differentiates its approach by focusing on organizational sustainability excellence. Organizational maturity and organizational excellence in sustainability are two approaches to organizational performance management that aim to improve organizational sustainability performance.

After a detailed model design and development process, models were run and sensitivity analysis was performed. After running various scenarios, it was shown that both workforce management and knowledge management are key components of People Capability, and they play crucial roles in the viability and sustainability performance of construction firms. Therefore, human resource development and training affect all capability areas of construction organizations without which no capability-building programs can be planned and implemented effectively.

Organizational excellence focuses on organizational resources, capabilities and knowledge management to determine what is driving the long-term success of organizations, whereas the organizational maturity focuses on organizational processes. This paper presents a modeling approach that can facilitate the process of policy verifications in organizations.

Organizations may have various options in choosing different policies, and those policies can be planned and expressed in different manners and along different scales. How can an organization determine which scenarios end up producing the desired performance results? The proposed framework presents a practical methodology that can result in the assessment of organizational excellence methodologies.