Abstract
While vision is considered as the starting point for any transformation process toward sustainability, little is known about how such a vision looks. To fill in a fundamental gap in the corporate sustainability literature, the present study advances a theory of organizational vision into a coherent theory of sustainability vision. It adopts the theory-building approaches of covering-law, enlightenment, and process by comparing and contrasting a diverse set of relevant plausible, logical, empirical, and/or epistemological conjectures so that highlighting occurs to form the substance of the refined theory. The resulting theory of sustainability vision asserts that effective sustainability visions are characterized by the seven attributes of brevity, clarity, future orientation, stability, challenge, abstractness, desirability or ability to inspire and one imagery of stakeholder satisfaction. Relevant propositions and a model are introduced for future research, followed by practical implications.
Highlights
“Vision” is equated to corporate pitch to convey enduring values and lasting purpose [1] in a pithy and effective way
The present study proposes to advance the vision theory [5], as it is still concerned very much with maximizing shareholder/owner value alone, which is not conducive to corporate sustainability
My literature review indicates that no theory of sustainability vision exists and there are few, if any, reported studies that have investigated the effect of individual vision attributes and content on sustainability performance
Summary
“Vision” is equated to corporate pitch to convey enduring values and lasting purpose [1] in a pithy and effective way. Given the scanty theoretical and empirical literature in this specific area, there is a call from scholars for more theories to inform future development in the corporate sustainability field [24]. As good theory is practical [28], I hope the refined theory of sustainability vision will help to inform corporate practitioners in such an integration To address these fundamental gaps in the literature and practice, I attempt to advance the vision theory into a coherent theory of sustainability vision to reflect the current business environment characterized by a non-static, non-linear nature and adamant stakeholder demand. Leaders need to realize their visions through vision communication, organizational alignment, empowerment, and motivation [32] Since these realization themes are not within the scope of the present theoretical development, I do not discuss them in great length here. Practical implications of the sustainability vision theory are discussed
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