What strategies can motivate businesses to consider implementing ESG?

Abstract

The problem addressed by this research is that some businesses are not motivated to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) into their plans. As a result, progress toward global sustainability has been impeded. The purpose of this study was to identity those strategies that motivate businesses to embrace ESG. Among the barriers impeding ESG is the lack of agreement whether it can coexist with corporate profit maximization goals and the insufficiency of standard measurements to assess its effectiveness. Another challenge is that businesses deal with diverse groups of stakeholders whose objectives may not coincide with corporate priorities. Among the key stakeholders are corporate boards who balance financial and ESG priorities while recognizing and maintaining the reputations/brands of their firms. One way to motivate businesses to embrace ESG is by integrating ESG initiatives into their strategic plans while focusing on finances, risk, board diversity, brand management, and stakeholder relationships. Since the key influencers of the business may include the next generation of leaders who are more attuned to sustainability needs, stakeholder theory is the lens through which this assessment was performed. I applied the principles of evidence-based management to address this problem and research gap involving business motivations to pursue ESG. I used the Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) methodology which entailed identifying the business problem and research question, conducting a literature review, searching for and evaluating evidence, and coding to develop results consisting of themes and actionable recommendations.