Abstract Business research has offered many tools to understand the opportunity for single firms to create or realise value in the provisioning system. The majority of sustainability tools also relate to single firms, or households. Sustainability is a whole of system shift and we require tools to understand the relationship between different members of the provisioning system and the distribution of costs (internal and externalities) and profits through the system. Building on the work of Wroe Alderson, we provide a tool—the extended transvection—to analyse a provisioning system that provides insights into: information flows, value creation/capture/loss, risk, externalities, equity and fairness, and underperforming provisioning systems. Together these insights allow us to see the sustainability of the provisioning system. The extended transvection also allows for considering scenarios regarding adjusted/alternate provisioning systems.

Abstract This study addresses a critical gap in sustainability theories by examining how organizations can strategically achieve sustainability through the adoption of customer-centric and corporate purpose strategies, which are fundamental in marketing and corporate fields. Our approach is underpinned by a rigorous literature review that includes systematic methodology and thorough qualitative analysis, through which we meticulously analyzed 101 selected documents from an initial pool of 559. The findings reveal a discernible trend in the literature, highlighting the significance of customer-centricity and corporate purpose. Key relationships are identified, including their impact on customer preferences, corporate culture, values, organizational performance, and sustainability outcomes. While this research focuses on the integration of customer-centricity and corporate purpose, it calls for further exploration of additional dimensions and variables that influence their relationship with sustainability. This literature review breaks new ground by directly examining the interplay between customer-centricity and corporate purpose, which play pivotal roles in enhancing organizational sustainability. We offer actionable recommendations for organizations aiming to embrace customer-centricity while remaining steadfast in fulfilling their corporate purpose. These recommendations include establishing robust relationships with customers, aligning organizational values with customer expectations, and embedding sustainable practices into corporate strategies to enhance long-term sustainability. Building strong connections with customers, employees, and stakeholders is instrumental in achieving these sustainability objectives, thereby underscoring the pivotal roles of customer-centricity and corporate purpose in enhancing organizational sustainability.

Abstract This study presents a novel regenerative service ecosystem learning framework (Reg-SELF), offering a critical distinction between regenerative sustainability and other incremental sustainability approaches. Building on literature in regenerative sustainability, transformative education, and marketing, the paper conceptualizes regenerative learning as a participative and reflexive practice, integrating it within the service-dominant logic framework to foster "inner sustainability" and cultural transformations across service ecosystems. Combining different sustainability perspectives—including service marketing, social marketing, and macro-marketing—this paper advances regenerative thinking in marketing theory and outlines a transformative learning path for embedding a regenerative approach into existing systems. Implications for the role of marketing are discussed, including proposing research avenues that explore how marketing can help weave more resilient and regenerative service ecosystems.

Abstract Greening, or adopting sustainable business practices, requires firms to balance economic, environmental, and social goals, which often creates tensions in sustainability. Firms frequently employ paradoxical logic to manage these tensions, pursuing these objectives simultaneously and without prioritization. However, using paradoxical logic may make it difficult for firms to communicate their greening initiatives to consumers. Messages that conflict with consumers' existing mental frameworks may amplify perceived tensions, arousing cognitive dissonance. Consumers with limited paradox mindsets may be unable to make sense of these tensions or tolerate their cognitive dissonance, prompting them to avoid or exit the firm or question its commitment to greening. To reduce these risks, greening firms need to consider and actively develop consumers’ paradox mindsets when crafting their sustainability communications. This paper draws on connections between cognitive dissonance and sensemaking to develop a conceptual model that illustrates how greening firms can develop consumers’ paradox mindsets. Through this iterative process, firms challenge consumers’ existing mental frameworks and offer sense-giving narratives that reframe tensions in sustainability as interdependent and complementary, reducing consumers’ cognitive dissonance. By tailoring their messages to align with consumers’ varying receptivity to paradoxical logic and sensitivity to tensions in sustainability, greening firms can craft coherent narratives that promote consumer engagement with the sensemaking process. When this process is successful, greening firms can develop consumers’ paradox mindsets and, thus, their ability to make sense of tensions in sustainability. This paper extends the literature on paradox mindset development from managers and employees to firm-consumer communications.

Abstract Sustainable service provision in large-scale and complex ecosystems requires balancing structural resilience with functional alignment. This paper proposes a holistic framework for service ecosystem sustainability, conceptualizing these dual dimensions as (1) structural sustainability—the system’s capacity for self-maintenance and resilience—and (2) functional sustainability—the system’s ability to uphold the broader macrosystem it depends on. These concepts are integrated into a sustainability state map that distinguishes four possible holistic states, each reflecting unique challenges and opportunities. Building on complex adaptive systems theory and the notion of adaptive cycles, the paper illustrates how service ecosystems traverse these states as they respond to internal tensions and external pressures. We further explain how strategy models such as exploration-exploitation, ambidexterity, and creative destruction can deliberately guide service ecosystems between states to maintain—or recover—holistic sustainability. In doing so, the framework elucidates why sustainability is inherently dynamic and evolutionary, shaped by multilevel interactions spanning individuals, organizations, and societal institutions. Ultimately, we offer scholars, practitioners, and policymakers a diagnostic tool and a set of strategic interventions to navigate sustainability transitions more effectively in service ecosystems facing persistent social and environmental concerns.

Abstract This paper introduces a new conceptual framework that integrates Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory with Service-Dominant logic (S-D logic). The aim is to address sustainability as an emergent, co-created service within the Triple Helix model of businesses, governments, and universities. By linking the Sustainability Science systems-based approach with the Service Science focus on value co-creation, such framework offers a more comprehensive understanding of how sustainability can be operationalized through feedback loops and adaptive processes. Reinforcing and balancing feedback loops are highlighted as essential mechanisms that drive cognitive alignment among actors, ensuring that sustainability is achieved through continuous adaptation and collaboration. The paper also discusses the implications of such a framework for businesses, governments, universities, and policy design, emphasizing the importance of institutional flexibility, cross-sector collaboration, and the role of feedback-driven adaptability in the pursuit of long-term sustainability goals. Practical insights for fostering cognitive alignment and adaptive strategies in complex service ecosystems are provided, showcasing how the framework can inform sustainability strategies and innovation in practice.

Abstract Sustainable marketing requires firms to proactively build, create, and develop specific capabilities. Given the scant theorizing on how firms develop capabilities for sustainable marketing effectiveness, this research systematically reviews research on (i) sustainable marketing and (ii) capabilities for sustainability and sustainable marketing. Specifically, on the foundations of resource-advantage theory of competition, resource-based view (RBV), capabilities-based view (CBV), dynamic capabilities view (DCV), and research on capability building, creation, and development, we review 115 articles (out of 658 results from initial search) from marketing and management journals to develop a theoretical framework of capability development for sustainable marketing. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the theoretical framework for sustainable marketing theory and a research agenda that also includes a call for developing adaptive marketing and market-shaping capabilities.