Maturity in management system integration and its relationship with sustainable performance

Abstract

The motivation for this study comes from the need of companies to become more sustainable and to find out how the integration of management systems can contribute to this. The present paper aims to investigate whether the maturity of integrated management system is related to a better sustainable performance. It could be expected that an increase in the maturity level of integration in management systems would lead to a higher level of performance in terms of sustainability. Company size was also evaluated because of its potential moderating effect over maturity and sustainable performance. Moreover, it would indicate whether larger companies would find it easier to integrate their management systems and reach sustainability. A survey was conducted in Brazilian companies that presented at least two of the following management system certifications: ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics and the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whiney nonparametric tests. According to the survey results, companies can obtain better sustainable performance if they invest in more integration of their management systems. The size of companies also affects the results of the lower-maturity group, that is, environmental and social performances are better in larger companies. Consequently, this work shows that management system integration is one way to achieve sustainability and brings a large contribution to both the academic and business management areas. Studies that focus on how sustainability can be reached give a greater support to companies, helping them to evaluate the best way to become sustainable.