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This study examines the impact of environmental activity management (EAM) on triple bottom line (TBL) performance and the role that sustainability strategies play in mediating these relationships. Data were collected using a survey of Australian managers and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings indicate that each of the three levels of EAM – Environmental Activity Analysis, Environmental Activity Cost Analysis, and Environmental Activity Based Costing – influence-specific aspects of performance, either directly and/or indirectly through environmental and social sustainability strategies. The findings suggest that managers could enhance their use of EAM practices through the use of sustainability strategies in order to enhance performance. This study provides empirical insight into the impact that EAM practices and environmental and social sustainability strategies have on all three aspects of TBL performance.

Environmental and social sustainability are becoming key competitive priorities for companies, but the way in which they are integrated in operations strategies remains an open issue. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether established operations strategy configuration models (i.e. price-oriented, market-oriented and capability-oriented models) are modified to include environmental and social priorities and whether different operations strategy configuration models are equally successful in the short and long term.

Analyses were performed using data from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (2009), including companies in the assembly industry in 21 different countries. According to previous studies, cluster analysis of competitive priorities and ANOVA analysis of the business strategy and short- and long-term performance were performed.

The results show that traditional operations strategy configuration models are slightly modified. Market-oriented and capability-oriented operations strategies are complemented by environmental and social sustainability priorities. These operations strategies are adopted by companies with a differentiation and innovation business strategy. Moreover, capability-oriented companies, which are the most committed to environmental and social sustainability, perform better in both the short and long term.

This research shows to companies that traditional operations strategies focusing on specific competitive priorities (e.g. low price) are being replaced by more holistic strategies that include sustainability priorities. However, environmental and social priorities contribute to competitive advantage when complementing capability-oriented operations strategies.

This paper extends operations strategy configuration models highlighting how environmental and social sustainability priorities can be deployed together with traditional competitive operations priorities.

This study aims to determine whether socially friendly business strategy impacts social sustainability performance and, if so, whether social management process and spiritual capital act as mediators and moderators of the relationship.

This study uses a comprehensive research framework consisting of the mediation and moderation relationship among four constructs, namely, socially friendly business strategy, social management process, spiritual capital and social sustainability performance. A total of 433 owners/managers of micro, small and medium-sized firms (MSMEs) in the Indonesian province of East Java took part in this study, and the data were gathered using a survey method. The resource-based view, stakeholder theory and partial least squares structural equation modelling are all used in this study to evaluate and explain the hypotheses.

The results show that both socially friendly business strategy and social management process positively affect social sustainability performance. Further analysis reveals that spiritual capital moderates the effect of socially friendly business strategy on social sustainability performance. Second, social management process mediates the influence of socially friendly business strategy on social sustainability performance in part.

The current study has limitations. First, it restricts the scope of its sample to MSMEs in Indonesia’s East Java Province. As a result, it also restricts its generalizability, and care must be used if the findings are applied to other types of organizations and geographic areas. Second, some survey participants needed help to complete the online questionnaire. As a result, collecting the data were less successful than anticipated. This study has significant implications for the development of the stakeholder theory, particularly in elucidating the mechanisms by which socially responsible corporate strategies, social management practices and performance in terms of social sustainability are affected.

The findings provide a comprehensive guidance for owners/managers in reorienting their business strategy, managing the social management process and building their spiritual capital to achieve social sustainability performance. It provides materials for researchers and students who are interested in studying the subject matter.

MSMEs have a significant role in society. The welfare of society will therefore increase if social sustainability performance is successful. The overall model of social sustainability performance improvements and its antecedents are presented in this study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first attempts to explore the general model of improving social sustainability performance using four constructs that are rarely used in previous studies. It also uses a new data set and research setting in Indonesia as one of the emerging countries.

Global palm oil production is growing rapidly, especially in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia and Malaysia as the biggest producers. Despite significant contributions to these countries’ economies, environmental and social aspects continue to be debated within this industry. The sustainability strategy is very important for the palm oil industry. This study aims to explore the sustainability strategy using six elements, namely, stakeholder engagement, governance and leadership, sustainability view and the economic, environmental and social strategies of Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil companies.

This study observes 21 Indonesian palm oil companies and 44 Malaysian palm oil companies from 2014 to 2018 with a total observation of 280 firm years. The methodology used in this study is a qualitative content analysis of six themes based on the sustainability strategy elements, which was further developed into 40 indicators. Content analysis is carried out on information published in annual reports and sustainability reports.

The study results indicate that stakeholder engagement, governance and leadership and strategic view of the palm oil companies in Indonesia and Malaysia are still likely to be weak. Palm oil companies have not demonstrated their focus on implementing economic, environmental and social strategies. Although the results indicate that there is a greater emphasis on environmental and social strategies than on economic issues, attention to both issues is still very low.

Palm oil companies need to integrate sustainability strategies in their business models and communicate them well to stakeholders to increase their competitive advantage in the palm oil industry. The government also needs to issue stricter rules and incentives to encourage companies to implement sustainability strategies.

The study results provide implications for the communities around palm oil plantations to provide better social control so that companies can implement sustainability strategies in their business processes.

This study highlights the importance of sustainability practices integrated into palm oil companies’ business models, which have not been well implemented in the palm oil industry in the world’s largest producing countries.

This study aims to describe and examine the strategy used by the Taman Ismail Marzuki Library for increasing its social sustainability capabilities.

The research questions in this study are (1) What is the TIM Library’s social sustainability strategy for supporting the green library concept? and (2) What are the impediments and facilitators to implementing the green library concept in the TIM Library through a social sustainability process? This study adopted a qualitative approach, using a case study method, in research conducted over the period July–November 2022. The data collection methods used were purposive sampling, interviews, observations and document analysis.

This study’s findings indicate that the TIM library’s social sustainability strategy supports economic sustainability up to the independence stage, whereas environmental sustainability is still at the empowerment stage. The green library concept is sustainable due to the library’s commitment to the “third place” concept and library cooperation. The TIM Library’s continuing strategy to use creative community development programs to attract public interest and change the library’s perception in the community should help it realize the green library concept.

Libraries can use the research findings to guide their strategies for community engagement and inclusivity.

The paper suggests that policymakers supporting libraries can consider incorporating elements of the Green Library concept and community development stages into policies to enhance the societal impact of libraries.

The significance of this study is that it uncovers strategies to help public libraries meet the requirements of the green library concept.

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 paper is to examine the social sustainability strategies of multinational mining companies in addressing risks in areas of exploratory intensity and contributing to social capital in local communities.

This study is situated within an interpretivist paradigm and uses a qualitative research methodology, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with multinational mining companies operating in Ghana and key stakeholder groups.

The results of this study show that multinational mining companies use strategies broadly categorised as social responsibility, social compliance, local content and relationship proximity to address challenges embedded in the extractive process.

By examining the strategies in addressing risks to sustainable social development in mining communities, this study contributes to fill the social sustainability gaps in mining research and adds to relevant literature.

This paper aims to adopt the strategy-structure-performance (SSP) framework to explore how proactive social strategy could motivate firms to collaborate with suppliers on social sustainability initiatives, and how such collaborative efforts could unlock a win-win opportunity for both noneconomic (social performance) and economic (operational performance) performance. Additionally, drawing on the tenets of the social exchange theory, the different moderating effects of distributive justice and procedural justice on the social collaboration-performance relationship are also examined.

This study uses survey data collected from 215 manufacturing companies in China. The proposed hypotheses are tested using multiple linear regression models as well as the PROCESS macro within SPSS.

The results suggest that (1) a proactive social strategy could motivate firms to collaborate with suppliers on joint social activities and (2) social collaboration with suppliers can have a significant positive effect on both social and operational performance. The moderation results suggest that distributive justice has a differential effect on the collaboration-performance link. Particularly, distributive justice strengthens the relationship between social collaboration and operational performance, while it weakens the relationship between social collaboration and social performance. Surprisingly, procedural justice did not have a significant moderating effect on the social collaboration-performance link.

This paper extends the SSP framework to the social sustainability context by not only stressing the importance of proactivity in managing sustainability, but also revealing collaboration as a structural aspect that could achieve superior performance benefits. This study also contributes to sustainable supply chain literature by exploring the moderating roles of justice elements.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the self-declared sustainability initiatives of the world’s four largest chocolate manufacturers (Ferrero, Mars, Mondelez and Nestlé) and the measures they take to tackle social problems within the context of establishing sustainable sourcing of cocoa in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Global cocoa supply chains are under continuous media and public scrutiny. Recent incidents of malpractice in supply chain management have left global chocolatiers vulnerable in terms of how they deal with social issues across their global supply chain networks. Critics have argued that there is a lack of consistency and transparency between what companies say and do in upholding sustainable practices across their supply chains.

The authors draw from the sustainable supply chain literature to develop our theoretical parameters and undertake a case-based analysis of the existing sustainability practices of these chocolatiers. Using the insights from this analysis, the authors propose a conceptual framework for a rigorous comparative assessment of self-declared sustainable sourcing initiatives of global agricultural supply chains. The methodology is qualitative and the research method is a secondary-data case study.

Four main parameters were identified and used to compare self-declared initiatives, namely: social sustainability certification from respectable bodies; code of conduct for suppliers; partnerships with the primary supply chain stakeholders; and supplier collaboration programme and improvement initiatives. The case companies chosen have implemented several initiatives, but the most prominent seem to indicate the reliance on third-party certification. Not all companies adopted a supplier code of conduct. The partnerships and collaboration programmes with different associations are presented as efficient for companies as well as farmers. Improvements in the conditions of farmers are advocated as a key result.

This paper is based on self-declared secondary data. Subsequently, it is possible that the case companies did not document some practices; or that companies do not do what they claim.

This paper provides a comprehensive framework for agricultural businesses to compare their sustainability efforts and improve the performance of their supply chains, particularly those who belong to the cocoa supply chains. The proposed framework allows an assessment of initiatives at policy, strategic, tactical and operational levels to improve social sustainability of supply chains.

This paper may help companies to think more clearly about greater transparency and provide the impetus for dealing more effectively with serious social issues in agricultural supply chains such as: child labour, child trafficking, modern slavery, etc. It may also instruct consumers to better understand what companies do as part of their sustainability agenda, alongside the communication of other features of their products, such as quality.

The framework adds value by providing a novel way to systematically compile and analyse data around self-declared sustainable initiatives. Actors within agricultural supply chains can use the framework to assess and drive their sustainability efforts and practices, leading to ways to improve the social performance of their global supply chains.

Companies are increasingly challenged by sustainability-related supply chain risks. Research has developed linking supply chain sustainability priorities, practices and triple bottom line performance; however, risk is rarely included in these models. The purpose of this paper is to understand the link between sustainable supply chain strategies, practices and performance, and to test the importance of risk management practices in this relationship focusing on the product category level.

The paper includes a survey of supply managers in four countries with 305 responses, with a focus on upstream supply chain strategies at the product category level.

The environmental and social sustainability strategies lead to sustainable supply sustainable performance, through focused practices in either area, but the effect on operational and cost performance is not significant. Social supply chain strategies positively impact environmental and cost performance when mediated by risk assessment practices.

This paper shows a more nuanced view of the impact of supply chain practices on the strategy–performance link. It is one of the first papers to empirically test the role of risk practices in sustainable supply chain management and emphasize the importance of alignment across the main dimensions of sustainability to achieve positive sustainable performance outcomes, but not necessarily cost and operational performance. Unlike other studies, social sustainability priorities may positively impact environmental and social performance and is linked to cost advantage when implemented with risk assessment practices.