Dual effects of individuals’ sustainability orientation on investment and consumption: Evidence from environmental issues in Japan

The human society has progressed during the last decades to a knowledge-based economy and as a result organizations have reconsidered the importance level of the human capital, research, information/ knowledge engineering, standardized management systems (ISO 14001 - EMS; ISO 9001 - QMS; ISO 2600 - CSR, and so on) and strategic planning design. Nevertheless, in the current context organizations must take into account their environmental impact and their sustainable orientation; otherwise the result will be disruptive regarding the link/ interaction with other organizations and with the market in an effective way that could contribute sustainable to the economics welfare. Environmental management system (EMS) brought a major contribution to the organizational awareness regarding the environmental issues. Also real integration of such a system (EMS) brought many organizational benefits related to overall organizational business performance. The EMS actively links the organizations management with the sustainable development orientation, which it is followed by an organizational behaviour that considers the expectations of all stakeholders regarding environmental issues. Specifically, it refers to institutionalization (absorption) of EMS "key elements" into the organizational strategic management to effectively balance the equilibrium between environmental activities and organizational performance. New training programs are needed to fulfil this goal. Organizations often choose e-learning alternative for human resource knowledge acquisition/ instruction because is the most cost-effective tool, it's convenient, it's flexible, and it has a very positive final result. Concluding, the paper develops an e-learning training program framework regarding the EMS as a managerial instrument of business performance because e-Learning is the most desirable and effective method to implement inside organizations various training programs.

PurposeWhen pursuing a sustainable orientation (SO), entrepreneurs can resolve environmental and social problems and act as change agents by pursuing opportunities related to market failures. While many studies focus on entrepreneurial intention, very few try to explain entrepreneurial behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the circumstances under which people could be led to become sustainable entrepreneurs. It examines the effect of SO, as well as the entrepreneurial motivation to change society as key drivers of entrepreneurial behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested in three waves (six-month interval) on a sample of 197 university students that are neither entrepreneurs, nor involved in any entrepreneurial processes. The authors measured entrepreneurial behaviour as a dependent variable and used subjective norms towards entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial attitude as well as entrepreneurial motivation and SO as independent variables.FindingsContrary to the expectations, sustainability orientation has a negative impact on entrepreneurial action. However, individuals who think that entrepreneurship can change society (instrumentality) exhibit higher entrepreneurial action. Furthermore, this belief positively moderates the negative impact of SO on entrepreneurial action. In other words, if someone thinks that entrepreneurship can change the world, not only he/she is more inclined to engage in entrepreneurial actions but their values of SO will not decrease their entrepreneurial action.Research limitations/implicationsA longer timeframe of longitudinal research is needed to overcome the limitation regarding the assessment of entrepreneurial action.Practical implicationsAs a practical implication, educators who want to engage their institution as an engine of change towards sustainable development could highlight cases of sustainable businesses where profits, environmental and social issues were not neglected to improve the perceived feasibility and thus, entrepreneurial action.Originality/valueResults demonstrate the negative effect of SO on entrepreneurship as a career choice, but not for those who believe that they can change society through this mean. This research highlights the relevance of Socio Cognitive Career Theory in the field of entrepreneurship, especially the neglected effect of outcome expectations on entrepreneurship as a career choice.

A growing number of academic studies are focusing on firms' sustainability orientation, organizational resilience, and social capital. A key challenge facing companies today is how to maintain or improve economic performance while becoming more sustainable. This research relates sustainability orientation, organizational resilience, and social capital to economic and environmental performance in the ceramic industry cluster of Castellón, Spain. It also analyzes the mediating effect of organizational resilience on the relationship between social capital and both types of performance. The results show that sustainability orientation is linked to environmental performance, while social capital and organizational resilience are linked to economic performance. The results of the analysis of the mediating effect of organizational resilience differ depending on the type of performance. These findings thus suggest that companies should decide what kind of results they want to prioritize in order to direct their efforts at a strategic level, focusing on organizational resilience and social capital if they want to achieve better economic results and on sustainability orientation if they want to improve their environmental performance. This research contributes to the academic literature on environmental and sustainability issues.

Purpose: Can entrepreneurial intention be enhanced within individuals making them more sustainability oriented? Keeping this question at the forefront, this study aims to find out the relationship between environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) and entrepreneurial intention. Methodology: Sustainability orientation had been described as the summation of an individual's appreciation of environmental sustainability, awareness of the environmental sustainability issues and actions for environmental sustainability. Quota sampling was applied to survey 90 undergraduate students from three different groups namely science, humanities and commerce. Test field was Khulna city, Bangladesh. Findings: Awareness of the environmental sustainability was found as the most influential factor. Actions for environmental sustainability was found negatively related with entrepreneurial intentions though it was very weak.

Anticipated environmental sustainability of personal fabrication

Sustainability and its economic impacts are a leading topic both in theory and practice. The role of SMEs in reaching SDGs is prominent as the vast majority of companies belong to this sector, SMEs play a fundamental role in employment and their value added is growing. Their motivations towards sustainability issues are mixed: some of them are related to business case and others are connected to the moral obligations towards social and environmental issues. Different motivational factors cannot be distinctly compartmentalized or prioritised, but all of them have an impact on sustainability actions and performance of SMEs. In this study we present an analysis of potential connections of enterprises’ demographic features (especially their age) and their motivations towards sustainability, based on the Hungarian database of the GEM-APS-2021 survey. We have found that the age of enterprises and the main motivational factor have a significant impact on sustainability orientation: start-ups are the most likely to take environmental and social responsibility even at the expense of profit and their motive of making a change in the world has a significant and positive correlation with sustainability considerations.

The convergence of social and environmental crises has urged organizations and institutions to apply systems-thinking principles as a way to better attend to ongoing issues and their inherent complexity. This qualitative empirical study inductively investigates the types of organizational-level cognition apparent in 20 sustainable wine producers in California applying different agricultural and organizational practices. We offer developments in the organizational cognition and learning literatures by presenting systems-thinking in the face of complexity as a unique empirical contribution. We differentiate between holistic (systems) and particularist (linear) cognition and dynamic ways of learning in organizations. Through semi-structured interviews, field observations, and secondary data from their website communications, we elaborate upon emergent findings and generalize a model of enacted cognition and organizational learning in a bidirectional manner with institutions. By focusing on producers with sustainable orientations, many implications related to responding to complex social and environment issues by applying holistic ontologies arise for further contemplation. Our insights serve as a foundation for understanding how organizations think in while dealing with ongoing complexity and long-term challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality.

This study investigates the complex interplay between Sustainability Orientation (SO), Environmental Knowledge Integration, and Strength of Ties (ST) as drivers of Sustainable Performance (SP) in regulated agribusiness contexts. Grounded in theories of social capital, dynamic capabilities, and institutional governance, the research examines how internal sustainability strategies, knowledge management mechanisms, and relational networks interact under conditions of regulatory pressure and resource intensity. Using empirical data from 353 enterprises in Brazil's São Francisco Valley, the study applies partial least squares structural equation modeling to test direct, mediated, and moderated effects among the core constructs. Results indicate that SO alone does not guarantee improved performance unless mediated by effective knowledge integration. ST presents dual effects—enhancing knowledge exchange and compliance when balanced, but reducing innovation through informational redundancy when overly dense. Governance emerges as a critical structuring force, aligning stakeholder engagement, regulatory compliance, and sustainability objectives. These findings provide theoretical contributions to sustainability governance and practical insights for agribusiness firms navigating institutional complexity. The study underscores that SP in regulated environments depends not only on strategic intent but also on organizational learning and adaptive network configurations.

Crowdfunding for sustainability ventures

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop a better theoretical and empirical understanding of the causal and contextual mechanisms explaining the relationship between customer orientation and business performance.Design/methodology/approachA three-stage least squares model was used on a sample of 3,720 French firms with 20 or more employees.FindingsBy using a moderated mediation approach, it was found that the mediating effect of environmental customer innovation on the relationship between customer orientation and business performance under different contextual factors (market environment, firm size and sector of activity) can be significantly stronger or weaker.Research limitations/implicationsThis analysis is restricted by the choice of one particular country, and further research should use data from other countries to develop a general understanding of the issues examined. Additionally, examining relevant mechanisms other than firm performance measures will advance the understanding of the customer orientation–firm performance linkage. Because of the fact that the majority of variables used are binary and that each survey was conducted in a particular situation and in a particular context, the picture portrayed could be biased. Because environmental issues not only concern consumers but also all other market actors, it would be highly useful to verify the obtained results using broader concepts such as Hult’s (2011) “market orientation plus” concept or the “sustainable market orientation” developed by Mitchellet al.(2010).Practical implicationsAccording to the results, to achieve market success and sustain a competitive advantage, managers must simultaneously invest in customer orientation and innovation performance. Additionally, managers should consider market environment, firm size and sector of activity as important contingencies in their decision of whether to invest in customer orientation.Originality/valueThis study makes an important contribution by opening up a “black box” and offers a deeper perspective on how and why customer orientation affects firm performance. In particular, rather than providing separate analyses of mediating and moderating effects, this study proposes a simultaneous analysis that reveals how and under what conditions customer orientation improves business performance.

The development of science, technology and art influence on economic and social development of society. The rapid economic growth in Indonesia is still a profit-oriented bussines. The attitude of caring and awareness about the environment tend to be ignored by the employers even do not inserted and properly evaluated in the education curriculum in Indonesia. Attitudes towards environmental awareness needs to be instilled as early as possible to the students and evaluated particularly well in chemistry learning where has direct contact with the environment. The concept of sustainable development issued by the United Nations (UN) could be one of the solution to develop economic with environmental way and can be inserted into chemistry learning process. Sustainable development concept has three main domains are environmental, economic and social. There are several models and strategies of learning where has sustainable development orientation, are: experiental learning, project-based learning, values and character-based learning, inquiry learning, and others. The indicators of the students who have environmental awareness, are: 1) to know and be aware of issues and environmental issues, 2) have a perception and awareness of the issues and problems of the environment, and 3) have confidence in solving environmental problems and contribute to environmental improvement. Writing this article aims to outline the concept of sustainable development in learning chemistry so that it can be a reference for improving students' environmental awareness. This article will examine several issues, are: the concept of sustainable development, learning chemistry for sustainable development, sustainable development-oriented learning models and indicators of environmental awareness. Through this article, educators and stake holders are expected to be able to insert and apply the concept of sustainable development in the learning process chemistry to enhance students' environmental awareness.

A sustainable consumption index/label to reduce information asymmetry among consumers and producers

This research article examines the profitability on the momentum portfolios in the case of the emerging stock market of India, i.e. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Sustainable investing integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics into investment decisions. Risk management is one of the most significant ranking factors determining the adoption of corporate strategies based on sustainable investing. A sustainable stock market provides a transparent and effective solution to inherent challenges related to environmental, social, economic and corporate governance issues. The theoretical and empirical analysis conducted in this research article reveals the status of BSE of India in this regard. A company's sustainable market orientation is very important for future developments. The practical significance of this research paper is to investigate the profitability of momentum strategies in Bombay Stock Exchange of India, which is an emergent market. Moreover, the presence of short term momentum effect on Indian stock market is basically an anomaly caused by behavioral and risk-based portfolio construction factors. On the other hand, momentum strategies is a reliable alternative with strong empirical evidence to both fundamental approaches of classical finance, namely efficient market hypothesis (EMH) and behavioral finance paradigm.

In the context of the agri-food industry, innovative start-ups have come into the spotlight as key drivers of innovation, sustainability and food safety orientation. Prior studies have produced significant knowledge on these topics but have mainly addressed established enterprises, while little is known about agri-food start-uppers and their contribution to social and eco-innovation. To fill this gap, this paper explores new entrepreneurial initiatives in the agri-food industry to understand how and why food safety, as well as environmental and social sustainability issues, are incorporated into their business models. The empirical analysis—based on four Italian start-ups—points out start-uppers' awareness of the importance of protecting the environment and promoting sustainability and health. In this vein, innovation is driven by the start-upper desire to actively contribute to educate the consumer on healthier and more sustainable food and trigger more sustainable lifestyles. Accordingly, their businesses, given their agility and flexible models, are by nature among the first to propose innovative solutions that incorporate the principles of circular economy and sustainability.

This article investigates the role of accounting disciplines in assessing and fostering corporate social performance (CSP) of business organisations to meet the UN Agenda 2030. Drawing from legitimacy theory, this qualitative study analyses if and how non‐financial reporting positively affects and fosters CSP practices and outcomes within the cruise industry. Specifically, using a case study methodology, a major cruise company has been analysed outlining its sustainable behaviour, through the manual content analysis of sustainability reports (2016–2017–2018), in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) introduced by the UN Agenda 2030. The findings outline that the cruise company presents a clear sustainability and community orientation and adopts several initiatives, mostly focused on environmental and social issues, addressed to meet the 17 SDGs, where reputation and positive image have been recognised as the major antecedents in the perspective of CSP. This study contributes to the literature giving a broader and different reading of sustainability reporting as a “booster” of the CSP in meeting the SDGs and a further interesting application of the legitimacy theory, and offers managerial implications to systematise the content of non‐financial reporting by improving the quality of disclosure to achieve the SDGs, with focus on CSP processes, outcomes and ways.