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The triple bottom line of sustainability performance is well known; however, little research links it to consumer brand perceptions and intentions. This is important because consumers believe that brands should develop sustainability strategies and conduct business in ways that support those strategies. Using the theoretical lenses of signaling theory and spillover effects, this study aims to examine the impact of negative messages about brands’ triple bottom line sustainability activities on consumer perceived brand ethicality, perceived product quality and purchase interest.

This research includes two lab experiments with the US participants.

When brands have sustainability failures, consumers feel the firm is less ethical, its products are lower in quality and purchase interest suffers – regardless how the failure relates to the triple bottom line (environmental, social or economic). These effects are moderated by brand familiarity and the message source. Brand familiarity seems to protect a firm’s ethicality image as does when the information comes from a corporate source, contrary to the prevalent literature.

Unlike most sustainability research, this study provides comparison effects across all three dimensions of the triple bottom line. In doing so, this study highlights nuances in how consumers connect brands’ sustainability-related activities with perceptions about ethics and brand expectations. This research also contextualizes the findings through brand familiarity and message source and contributes to the growing body of literature on sustainability branding.

This paper aims to elucidate responsible leadership as a construct with strong moral and ethical underpinnings, as well as a focus on multiple stakeholders and the triple bottom line. This paper also highlights the interdependence of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of a business to achieve corporate sustainability.

This conceptual paper is the outcome of analysing and synthesizing the findings of the literature review on three main constructs: responsible leadership, triple bottom line and corporate sustainability. This review enabled the development of logical associations among these constructs.

The literature revealed logical associations between responsible leadership, the triple bottom line and corporate sustainability. All three constructs embody the three dimensions of economic, social and environmental sustainability, which form the basis of the associations.

Responsible leadership, grounded in stakeholder theory, goes beyond the traditional dyadic leader–follower relationship to influence multiple stakeholders within and outside the organization and achieve positive outcomes for both the organization and society. Multiple levels of outcomes and higher levels of organizational performance for businesses are the hallmarks of responsible leadership.

This paper highlights the importance of responsible leadership and triple bottom-line performance for corporate sustainability. Responsible leadership has the potential to create significant impact on business and society, to achieve long-term corporate sustainability. A conceptual model of responsible leadership is also proposed to show the association between responsible leadership, the triple bottom line and corporate sustainability.

Under the carbon tax policy, the authors examine the operational decisions of the low-carbon supply chain with the triple bottom line.

This paper uses the Stackelberg game theory to obtain the optimal wholesale prices, retail prices, sales quantities and carbon emissions in different cases, and investigates the effect of the carbon tax policy.

This study’s main results are as follows: (1) the optimal retail price of the centralized supply chain is the lowest, while that of the decentralized supply chain where the manufacturer undertakes the carbon emission reduction (CER) responsibility and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the highest under certain conditions. (2) The sales quantity when the retailer undertakes the CER responsibility and the CSR is the largest. (3) The supply chain obtains the highest profits when the retailer undertakes the CER responsibility and the CSR. (4) The environmental performance impact decreases with the carbon tax.

The results of this study can provide decision-making suggestions for low-carbon supply chains. Besides, this paper provides implications for the government to promote the low-carbon market.

Most of the existing studies only consider economic responsibility and social responsibility or only consider economic responsibility and environmental responsibility. This paper is the first study that examines the operational decisions of low-carbon supply chains with the triple bottom line under the carbon tax policy.

This paper aims to determine the significance of tourist walkability on three community-based tourism sustainability indicators, namely, the economic, social and environmental benefits and costs impacting community’s quality of life through the lens of the triple bottom line approach with the institutional theory.

This study views institutions as either enabling or restricting the sustainable community-based tourism because institutions influence resource integration and value assessment by the beneficiary. Moreover, institutions also lead the co-creation of sustainable community-based tourism among various stakeholders. Drawing on this conceptualisation, the notion of sustainable community-based tourism is filtered through the lens of institutional theory. Thus, this work approaches sustainable community-based tourism as a dynamic process of co-creating a tourist destination formed by different actors’ and institutions within the ecosystem of the tourist destination. Meanwhile, the triple bottom line benefits and costs experienced by the overall community would produce net effects on the residents’ perceptions of sustainable tourism.

This paper classifies both tangible and intangible costs and benefits because of tourist walkability and its triple bottom line trade-offs experienced by tourists and residents. This paper penetrates new grounds by reviewing the triple bottom line impacts of tourist walkability on residents’ quality of life. Government policies as mediating variable and national culture and individual personalities of tourists and residents as moderating variables were discussed. A conceptual framework named Tourist Walkability Sustainable Tourism Impact on Residents (TWSTIR) is proposed. Finally, a Sustainable Community-based Tourism Strategic (SCBTS) model which is based on the two dimensions of intensity of tourist walkability and residents’ quality of life is proposed.

Research limitations may include a lack of assessment on political, technological and legal issues, and therefore, future research is warranted in these three areas. Some emotions and attitudes of the residents may not be captured since the Gross National Index (Gross National Happiness) may have its inherent blind spots.

This paper would be of interest to the scholarly world, as its original idea and concluding research agenda are burrowing into a new sub-field of tourism research. In view of growth and degrowth of sustaining community-based tourism, the SCBTS model is presented to provide directions for tourism policymakers and entrepreneurs to formulate and implement appropriate strategy for the tourist walkability activity per se and investment in the accompanying infrastructure.

This paper also presents the sacrifices and inequities in the communities and the relevance of government policies, national culture and individual personalities of tourists and residents, in which the attention of tourism policymakers and the communities that thrive on the travel and tourism industry should not be neglected.

The idea and discussion of this paper is original. This paper burrows into a new sub-field of tourism research. Tourist walkability needs more attention from the scholars, as this tourist activity can have positive and negative effects on residents’ quality of life. The TWSTIR framework is developed to discuss the relationships of tourist walkability, triple bottom line concept and residents’ quality of life within the sustainable community-based tourism scope. The SCBTS model is presented for tourism policymakers and entrepreneurs to perform appropriate strategy for the tourist walkability activity and investment in the accompanying infrastructure.

One of the children of Brundtland has been the concept of the triple bottom line – economic, environmental and social – as a means of planning for and measuring performance. This approach has largely been unquestioningly accepted. Despite this the agenda for socially responsible behaviour has evolved and developed. Now the concern is for the whole supply chain, which transcends the organisational boundary and throws a question over any idea of the triple bottom line. Corporate concern increasingly focuses upon two key issues, which are also of paramount importance to individuals: environmental degradation, particularly climate change, and human rights protection. In addition a lot of concern has been expressed as a result of revelations stemming from the economic and financial crisis, which have exposed significant failures in governance at corporate level and in markets and governments. Environmental degradation, human rights protection and governance operate at many levels from global to corporate. In many ways they parallel the idea of the triple bottom line but are not organisationally bounded. They represent issues of greater concern than merely corporate issues; they have an impact on the global and societal matters also. They are also totally connected to sustainable behaviour. In this chapter we therefore argue that this is the real triple bottom line, and discuss the implications.

The purpose of this study was to identify and determine the best fit model of triple bottom line (TBL) performance. Particularly, it delved into the interrelationships among variables which include sustainable management practices, strategic orientation and organizational culture on TBL performance. This study employed descriptive-correlation technique using Structural Equation Modeling. Data were sourced by administering survey questionnaires to 400 individuals performing key functions among large manufacturing companies operating in Region XII, Philippines. Results displayed that sustainable management practices, strategic orientation and organizational culture positively and significantly correlated with TBL performance. Structural Model 4, which depicted the direct causal relationships of sustainable management practices and organizational culture to TBL performance of large manufacturing companies, satisfied all the indices used and was found to be the best fit model. Finally, this study adds value to a growing body of literature viewing TBL through the lens of corporate sustainability.

This paper aims to review some trends in global corporate citizenship branding stories and consumer values. The focus is on the triple bottom line and teamwork in organisations.

Some implications for the individual employee's occupational citizenship and the development of emotional regimes in teams are considered. A suggested alternative triple bottom line is proposed. The other elements of the “triple bottom line” are not neglected but nested within the typical interpretation of three Ps as an emergent alternative triple bottom line.

This alternative triple bottom line involves a set of emotional and identity issues spiralling around the nature of the emotional relationship that various stakeholders have with any particular organisation's brand story. It is suggested that there is a convergence of values around key issues of consumer ethics, corporate citizenship and sustainability relating to personal as well as product image.

This paper suggests that in the twenty‐first century sustainability will be better secured when organizations begin to seriously address their own emotional ecologies. A set of ten practical steps that could be taken are briefly outlined.

This paper considers the relatively under‐researched topic of emotional aspects of sustainability and specifically applies this to work carried out on MBA teams.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a “fivefold bottom line” approach in implementing and reporting corporate efforts of sustainable business practices.

This viewpoint from industry is based on the content analysis of the South African retail chain Woolworths. The data are gathered and derived from the company's comprehensive annual and sustainability reports from 2008 to 2011 and the company's press releases for this period focusing on their efforts of implementing and reporting sustainable business practices.

A lesson learned from the presented “fivefold bottom line” approach to implement and report their corporate efforts of sustainable business practices is that it is adapted to fit and make sense in a specific market and society. The triple bottom line approach is usually derived from, or commonly based upon, a western perspective on the market and society in literature.

The authors argues that insights from industry of implementing and reporting sustainable business practices based upon different corporate “bottom line” approaches are required in literature.

The authors propose that the “triple bottom line” approach may need to be commonly adapted to the country and cultural context in focus, which is not normally done, but templates are used.

Triple bottom line reporting tends to follow common approaches how it is done. There is rarely seen adapted or modified “bottom line” approaches to specific market and societal characteristics in literature.

This paper aims to assess the impact of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices on the triple bottom line’s economic, social and environmental performance of Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers.

This quantitative study uses a deductive approach. The practice-based view is used to support the conceptual framework. The partial least square structural equation modelling technique empirically assessed the conceptual model using 164 responses from Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers through a structured survey questionnaire. Apart from examining the direct effects of GSCM practice on the triple bottom line, the study also investigated the moderating effects of firm size and duration.

The results show that GSCM practices positively affect the organisation’s triple bottom line while business size and duration moderate the said relationship.

The fact that this study is based on Sri Lankan apparel producers may impact the generalizability of the findings across different industries and countries. Furthermore, the survey only looked at export manufacturers. This raises questions about the results’ relevance to other non-export groups of the current population with distinct characteristics.

The paper provides insights for both academia and practitioners on the importance of adopting GSCM practices for the business performance of apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka. The paper includes implications for devising strategic solutions for organisational performance and sustainability by using GSCM practices in apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka.

The research contributes to the body of knowledge in the GSCM field in general. This research also contributes to the limited literature on GSCM practices in Sri Lanka. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to explain how apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka are organised.

On completion of the case, the students will be able to understand the concept and importance of sustainability; understand how triple bottom line can help a company make a transition towards sustainability; evaluate the tensions between the three pillars of triple bottom line approach; assess the role of circular economy model as opposed to the conventional linear model in the transition of a company towards sustainability; and understand the sustainability challenge in an emerging market context.

Despite the promising growth potential of the plastics industry in India, it is faced with sustainability challenges owing to its detrimental impact on environment. To preserve the environment and human kind, the government made a bold announcement in 2018 to eliminate the use of highly polluting single-use plastics (SUPs) in the country. Amid this growing sustainability threat against plastics and the fall in demand of SUP items, this case illustrates that Sandip Patel, the plant manager of Cello Plastotech, is entrusted by the CEO with the responsibility of adopting a triple bottom line approach encompassing its three pillars, that is, people, planet and profits, as a response to the sustainability challenge. The strategic rethinking towards adopting sustainability required Patel to face the challenge of striking a balance between the three pillars of triple bottom line while also taking some valuable insights for plastic waste management from the circular economy model. While making a transition to sustainability, he needed to evaluate different options like stopping the manufacture of SUPs and look for alternatives, use of biodegradable raw material which was expensive but environment friendly or manufacture such durable plastic products that would replace SUPs.

The case is aimed at teaching the topic Triple Bottom Line approach in the courses of business strategy and sustainability in under-graduate and post-graduate level courses in the discipline of Management. It can also be used as a supplementary reading in courses like Corporate Social Responsibility and Circular Economy. In emerging markets’ context, these topics are generally taught to MBA students in courses like strategic management, sustainable business and business ethics.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.