Sustainability Performance Measurement Research Articles

Extending corporate sustainability reporting indicators to projects’ sustainability

Measuring the sustainability performance of an organisation is a rather complex task. This study aims at analysing a broad number of performance indicators related to the economic, environmental, and social pillars of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework and evaluates their applicability toward the development of a sustainable performance measurement system (SPMS) of projects. To this purpose, an analysis of the annual sustainability reports of the listed EURO STOXX Sustainability 40 companies was conducted, identifying the sustainability indicators incorporated in each individual report, and classifying them according to the three pillars of the TBL framework. The analysis of the reports yielded 67 economic indicators, 109 environmental, 130 social, and 38 additional ones, mainly combining the latter two categories, giving 344 unique indicators in total. The proposed system, based on empirical evidence, recommends that selected indicators for an SPMS for projects should relate to predefined subcategories. These are costs, efficiency, and shareholder return for the economic dimension; emissions, energy, paper, resource consumption, waste, and water for the environmental dimension; diversity & equality, ethical behaviour, external commitment, health & safety, training & development, and working conditions for the social dimension.

From OEE to OSEE: How to reinforce Production and Maintenance Management Indicator Systems for Sustainability?

Sustainability in manufacturing enterprises is considered as a tradeoff between ecological, economic and social factors. Manufacturing enterprises, however, are not aware of holistically sustainable operational strategies that comprehensively include and quantify these factors, while ensuring their competitiveness. In particular, key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure sustainability performance and facilitate root cause analysis on an operational level are missing. Currently, the consideration of ecological and social aspects in production and maintenance management is still rather theoretical, while fostering economical sustainability is omnipresent. To manage a transition to a sustainable manufacturing system, these factors should be orchestrated, and economic sustainability must not be a contradiction to ecological and social sustainability. To pursue the aforementioned line of research in sustainable operations management, this paper aims to introduce a conceptual approach incorporating economic, ecological and human sustainability factors. It supports decision-making in strategic and operational levels and lays the ground for the development of a novel KPI schema, in particular focusing on extension of OEE towards Overall Sustainable Equipment Effectiveness (OSEE) for reinforcing informed decision-making ensuring sustainability goals.

ASSESSMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY COMPLIANCE PERFORMANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES

Today, the concept of sustainability is becoming increasingly important and a strategic priority for businesses. Measuring the sustainability performance of companies operating in the IT sector, which is experiencing rapid digital transformation, is of great importance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the sustainability compliance of companies listed on the BIST Information Technology Index using Entropy-based Grey Relational Analysis. Objectively measuring sustainability performance will facilitate decision-making for both companies and investors. In this study, weights of predetermined sustainability criteria are first calculated using the Entropy method. Then, Grey Relational Analysis is applied to analyze companies' sustainability performance and obtain rankings. According to both the raw scores and the results of the Grey Relational Analysis, Logo, Kafein and Alcatel companies were identified as the companies with the highest performance. The consistency of these results shows the validity of the applied method.

Sustainable Performance Measurement in Public Sectors - A Systematic Literature Review

This paper provides a systematic review of the literature on how sustainable performance is measured and reported in the public sector. Analyzing 22 studies published in a period of 5 years (from 2017 to 2021), the author addresses two simple but meaningful questions: How is the recent stream of literature on environment sustainability reported on in the public sector? And, what are the common measurement methods for the phenomenon? The findings indicate that public organizations mostly choose to adopt the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to report their sustainable or environmental performance; and given the crucial role, researches on environmental and sustainable performance of public sectors are still much lagging behind compared to the private sectors. The author also proposes several insights for public organizational performance improvement.

A hierarchical component model for sustainable performance measurement of maintenance practices: A fourth-order PLS-SEM approach

Despite the growing recognition of the significant role played by effective maintenance practices in pursuing sustainability goals, a rigorous and validated method to assess and monitor its activities’ impacts on the triple-bottom-line is still lacking. To address this gap, this paper proposes a fourth-order Hierarchical Component Model (HCM) for sustainable performance measurement of maintenance practices based on PLS-SEM approach. To validate the model, Oil & Gas industry is surveyed, where a total of 207 responses are obtained from maintenance experts in the Gulf region. The results of the study support the indicators’ reliability as well as the first-order constructs’ internal consistency, convergent validity and discriminant validity. An embedded multistage approach for the higher-order constructs measurement models evaluation reveals that they exhibit satisfactory levels of quality. The structural model evaluation supports the significance of the hypothesized paths, a strong degree of predictive relevance, and the hypothesized mediation relationships proved significant. Finally, the total effect analysis demonstrates that “Energy Use” has the highest effect among first-order variables followed by “Material use”, ‘Costs & Returns”, “Emission & Pollution”, and “Effluents & Waste”. Furthermore, “Energy Use” related indicators have the highest weights among all indicators. This study provides empirical evidence on the causal background of the proposed model’s implicated elements on sustainable performance of maintenance. The findings offer guidance to practitioners in this area and useful insights to decision-makers, as it enables them to determine the inherent impacts of the model components on the overall performance and allocate resources efficiently to increase the maintenance sustainability level.

Integrated Model of Lean and Risk Mitigation for Sustainability Performance Measurement in the Lubricants Manufacturing Industry

Green companies are needed for manufacturing related to maintaining the business. Evaluating sustainability performance in manufacturing processes and proposing strategies for sustainable growth is important. This study measures the performance of manufacturing sustainability in the lubricating oil industry sector. Several previous studies on measuring sustainable manufacturing performance only considered lean and green aspects. This study fills the existing gap by adding a risk perspective in measurement. Several suggestions for improvement analyzed from measurements of sustainability performance and risk mitigation, are validated using the BORDA. The lean and green philosophy is applied with the Sustainable Value Stream Mapping approach. Meanwhile, risk mitigation is analyzed using the House of Risk approach. The results of the assessment of sustainability performance measurements are analyzed using the efficiency approach and BORDA for weighting. This research is expected to be able to provide suggestions for improvements for manufacturing that are efficient and feasible to implement. So that high sustainability performance can be achieved with low risk.

Lifecycle Analysis of Green Roofs in the Mediterranean Climate

Buildings account for a significant amount of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Electricity and fossil fuels are currently the primary sources of energy used for cooling and heating buildings, depending on the climate and location. Both energy sources are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, plants and vegetation absorb carbon dioxide and, thus, improve the quality of air. This effect indirectly influences climate change to lower energy demands and produce additional emissions due to rising energy consumption trends. Plants also reduce the ambient temperature by providing shade on roof surfaces. Hence, the large-scale deployment of green roofs reduces energy consumption, emissions, and costs. However, green roofs also impact the overall weight of a building and require additional construction costs. Therefore, the contribution of green roofs to the various structural and thermal performances of buildings varies for extensive intensive or semi-intensive systems. These interactions warranted a lifecycle analysis to optimize the extent of green roof applications. This approach highlighted sustainability performance measures, including energy, emissions, water, and waste. The presented study addressed a lifecycle analysis of green roof deployment during a hot summer in a Mediterranean climate zone. This climate applies to many areas that benefit from warming temperatures without extreme needs for cooling or heating. The emphasis on comparing two towns within the same climate zone facilitated a more detail-oriented approach to the lifecycle analysis. The results illustrated the energy consumption and associated release of greenhouse gas emissions related to structural and roofing materials and thermal operations throughout the service life of a building. The conclusions assessed the challenges and opportunities of green roof applications on new and existing buildings.

Preliminary Framework of Lean Healthcare Sustainability Performance Measurement for Health Sector

Introduction: Lean sustainability has gained prominence in the health sector for operational and business advantages. However, understanding the link between lean and healthcare sustainability, especially in social and environmental aspects, remains limited. This study introduces a preliminary framework for measuring lean healthcare sustainability in hospitals. The framework aligns Critical Success Factors (CSFs) with sustainability objectives and business strategies to ensure successful and enduring lean deployment. Methods: The study was conducted among 52 Lean Agile Hospitals in Malaysia using a cross-sectional approach. The validated questionnaire was employed for data collection. A reliability test and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) were also performed to assess and validate the framework using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27. Results: The content validation was 0.9, which indicates that the instrument is sufficient to measure the research objective. The data screening test was performed to eliminate problem observation. The overall reliability value was over 0.830 which depicts data consistency and stability. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin exceeded 0.6, Bartlett’s test was under 0.001 and factor loading was between 0.507 to 0.948, thus indicating a significant correlation matrix among at least some of the variables. Therefore, the latent factors were significant to specific items of the research. Conclusion: It is concluded that important CSF is aligned with the strategic level influence of lean deployment in healthcare, which has a specific impact on certain sustainability performance. Thus, this paper proposed a generic preliminary framework to measure lean healthcare sustainability.

A modified distance friction minimization model with optimistic–pessimistic target orientation for OECD sustainable performance measurement

A modified distance friction minimization model with optimistic–pessimistic target orientation for OECD sustainable performance measurement

Measuring sustainable ergonomics: A hybrid multi‐criteria perspective on ergonomics indicators

AbstractDecision making process comprises complexity due to holistically managed requirements. Since this process has diverse effects on stakeholders as decision makers, undoubtedly, the decisions become more significant for organizations having critical decisions in today's globalized sustainable world. If these decisions influence not only providing human well‐being but also improving the quality of working life through measuring the performance of business processes, their results should be monitored more systematically. Through this viewpoint, in this paper, the applicability of ergonomics indicators, as the fundamental part of a systematic approach integrating ergonomics and sustainability to monitor and evaluate processes of organizations, is queried within a hybrid multi‐criteria perspective, including five evaluation criteria consolidated for this paper, through a designed survey by asking practitioners as potential users of such an approach. The used methods, that is, BWM and PROMETHEE, enable presenting a base study to decide which ergonomics indicators are necessary for developing a systematic approach, indicating the prioritization of these indicators to be used as candidates for the approach. Results show that 15 ergonomics indicators can be candidates for facilitating sustainable process performance measurement in ergonomics. Importantly, this paper proposes guidance in making decisions for achieving well‐managed processes in organizations through ergonomics indicators evaluated on a hybrid multi‐criteria perspective.

A systematic literature review: Setting a basis for smart and sustainable city performance measurement

AbstractThe growing amount of data and the inventive solutions that arise from it create opportunities to construct and manage smart sustainable cities. Before attempting to establish appropriate solutions in this regard, it is crucial to clearly grasp what smart and sustainable cities are and the aspects around which they are built. The purpose of this study is to critically analyze and evaluate the studies that have been conducted on smart and/or sustainable cities and to provide a basis for the measurement of smartness and sustainability of cities. In this context, using Systematic Literature Review (SLR) methodology, the smart city, sustainable city, and smart sustainable city concepts are firstly defined. After that, the indicators for the assessment of the smartness and sustainability of cities and the selection processes of these indicators are analyzed. According to the analysis, the studies were grouped based on the use of (i) selection criteria, (ii) selection methods/tools, and (iii) models used and 14 criteria were deduced from the literature for the evaluation of performance assessment indicators: measurability, availability, completeness, relevance, independence, reliability, currency, responsiveness, simplicity, representativeness, cost‐effectiveness, consistency, comparability, and consensus. This study aims to support other studies and applications of authorities on creating and assessing a smart and sustainable city (i.e., the indicators) that want to join the 2030 Agenda but face problems regarding their cities' specific conditions. The first step towards creating a smart sustainable city can be taken by determining the most suitable indicators for the city.

Sustainable Performance Measurement in Manufacturing Process of Textile Industry by using Analytical Hierarchy Process

Sustainable manufacturing practices in textile industry have become a crucial topic for managers of manufacturing organizations to remain competitive in the market. The textile sector is well known for consuming a large amount of natural resources, raw materials, energy, and fossil fuels, and for being a significant contributor to pollution. Evaluating sustainability performance of textile manufacturing companies is therefore important. To address this, a study has developed an Analytical hierarchy process (AHP)-based model for assessing sustainable manufacturing performance. The study identifies performance measures for sustainable manufacturing based on economic, environmental, social, and technical factors, and confirms their relevance through a survey. The findings demonstrate that all measures are extremely important and are suggested as key performance measures for textile sector. Then, AHP is used to evaluate sustainable manufacturing performance based on these measures, results in quality and employee ranking as highest critical factors, and complexity and flexibility as least important. The study offers hierarchical model for evaluating sustainability performance of five case organizations, providing guidance for production managers to assess strengths and weaknesses of their organizations. These findings encourage researchers and practitioners to study more about sustainability evaluation.

A Strong Sustainability Paradigm based Analytical Hierarchy Process (SSP-AHP) method to evaluate sustainable healthcare systems

The recent studies signify the growing concern of researchers towards monitoring and measuring sustainability performance at various levels and in many fields, including healthcare. However, there is no agreed approach to assessing the sustainability of health systems. Moreover, social indicators are less developed and less succinct. Therefore, with this work, authors seek to map sustainable reference values in healthcare and propose a conceptual and structured framework that can guide the measurement of the social sustainability-oriented health systems. Based on a new multi-criteria method called Strong Sustainability Paradigm based Analytical Hierarchy Process (SSP-AHP), the presented approach opens the availability for systems’ comparison and benchmarking. The Strong Sustainability Paradigm incorporated into the multi-criteria evaluation method prevents the exchangeability of criteria by promoting alternatives that achieve good performance values on all criteria, implying sustainability. The research results offer insights into the core domains, sub-domains, and indicators supporting a more comprehensive assessment of the social sustainability of health systems. The framework constructed in this study consists of five major areas: equity, quality, responsiveness, financial coverage, and adaptability. The proposed set of indicators can also serve as a reference instrument, providing transparency about core aspects of performance to be measured and reported, as well as supporting policy-makers in decisions regarding sectoral strategies in healthcare. Moreover, the presented approach can be helpful while performing cross-national comparisons. Our findings suggest that the most socially sustainable systems are Nordic countries. They offer a high level of social and financial protection, achieving very good health outcomes. Furthermore, their social sustainability is safeguarded by balancing all identified values. On the other hand, the most unsustainable systems, located in central and eastern European countries, have a high level of unmet needs, experiencing shortages in the workforce and underfunding of healthcare. A key challenge for them is to achieve sustainability by increasing the share of public expenditure on health and limiting the substantial dependence on out-of-pocket payments.

Performance based core sustainability metrics for university campuses developing towards climate neutrality: A robust PICSOU framework

Despite the global interest, the sustainable development of universities remains commonly unmonitored as existing tools are either overly complicated or less specific for university campuses. Evaluation of existing tools motivated this study to focus on measuring sustainability performance of university campuses. By concentrating on factors having the most prominent impact on buildings’ and activities’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and social performance, PICSOU (Performance Indicators for Core Sustainability Objectives of Universities), a six-category framework with about 20 key performance indicators (KPIs) was identified to monitor more than 80% of Scope 2 or/and Scope 3 carbon footprint of a university campus and enables relatively easy cost-benefit analysis of potential improvements. Proposed categories and KPIs are general, but the improvement measures can always have a local origin. To test the framework, a case study was conducted and findings include discovery of lowutilization spaces, potential parking footprint reduction, co-benefits exceeding energy savings in renovation and an annual carbon footprint of 1.3 tCO2eq per university population. This study showcases the latest endeavor in identifying a simple and robust framework containing universally measurable indicators that are easily compatible with different campuses and can enable the timely and accurate measuring of university campus sustainability

Sustainability performance efficiency in the banking sector

Traditional sustainability reporting is based on an internally developed methodology and does not fully cope with the sustainability performance evaluation, especially from an external perspective. This study aims to fill this gap by offering a tool that may be used to assess the company’s performance based on the results presented to external users. For this purpose, a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) is proposed, that enables a comparison of the sustainability performance disclosed in non-financial reports in the banking industry in Poland, Croatia, and Romania. The findings of our study identify differences between the efficiency of sustainability performance in the banking sectors of all three countries. The proposed approach to compare hard-to-compare sustainability performance may significantly contribute to the decision-making process for stakeholders and, therefore, to the advancement of sustainability performance measurement research.

A Methodological Sustainability Assessment to Process Intensification (MSAtoPI) by reactive-separation systems

To produce clean and cheap power by eliminating the economic and energy penalties, it is necessary to develop new technologies or improve the existing processes based on sustainability criteria and alternative fuels. Integration of sustainability into process design contributes to the achievement of this target by eliminating or minimizing negative effects. However, measuring sustainability performance and decision-making are crucial and challenging steps for the development of sustainable industrial processes. The framework for Methodological Sustainability Assessment to Process Intensification (MSAtoPI) is thus introduced in this study as a methodological approach with appropriate sustainability indicators that ensures the capability of gathering and abstracting the complex process operations (energy, mass, and momentum transport phenomena), and that offers clear analysis and communication. The main concepts are demonstrated in practice by using a biomass-based, highly efficient, and ultra-compact process to produce H2 while simultaneously capturing CO2 in an IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) power plant, which is intensified by reactive-separation systems (a hybrid membrane reactor (MR)/adsorptive reactor (AR) system). MSAtoPI clearly concretizes that the proposed intensified reactive-separation systems have huge potential to produce clean and cheap power by eliminating the economic and energy penalties by having more sustainable natures (minimum: ∼18%, average: ∼75%, maximum: ∼140% improvement in sustainability).

Corporate digitalization, managerial power distance and corporate sustainability performance: evidence from China

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of managerial power distance on the corporate sustainability performance of Chinese firms and to explore the regulatory role of corporate digitalization in the Chinese capital market.Design/methodology/approachThe study collects data from 2,632 A-share Chinese non-financial firms listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during the period from 2010 to 2020. The authors apply different panel data regression techniques (fixed effects, GMM-System) to investigate the impact of managerial power distance on corporate sustainability performance and to explore the regulatory role of corporate digitalization in the Chinese capital market.FindingsThe results of the study show a positive relationship between high managerial power distance and the sustainability performance of Chinese non-financial firms. This positive relationship is particularly pronounced in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The results also show that corporate digitalization increases the sustainability performance of Chinese firms. Further, corporate digitalization weakens the positive relationship between high-power distance and the sustainability performance of Chinese firms. These results are robust to alternate sustainability performance measures and various regression techniques.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the regulating impact of corporate digitalization on the relationship between managerial power distance and corporate sustainability performance in China.

Sustainability performance measurement in the food supply chain: Trade-offs, institutional pressures, and contextual factors

This study investigates the trade-offs that firms face in measuring their sustainability performance at different stages of the food supply chain as a result of institutional pressures. We analyzed eight firms in the Italian organic wine supply chain to map the sustainability performance measurement (SPM) indicators adopted along the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. We then examine how SPM is influenced by institutional pressures and the resulting trade-offs in three supply chain stages: winery, distributor, and retailer. Our findings indicate a prevalence of normative pressures from the market and from other stages in the supply chain in terms of SPM prioritization caused by institutional pressures (i.e., isomorphic) and contingent on other factors, such as the firm's size and culture. In particular, SPM trade-offs vary according to the supply chain stage, whereby wineries prioritize the environmental and economic dimensions, distributors—the economic dimension, and retailers—the social dimension. SPM adoption is also motivated by the firm's commitment to the environment and connection with the local region, over and above the perceived institutional pressures.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Performance Measurement, and Management: A Review

The research highlights the importance of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), technology adoption (TA), and performance measurement in promoting sustainability and improving supply chain performance. By incorporating sustainable practices and utilizing digital technologies, organizations can create a more sustainable future and improve their overall performances. This study conducted an in-depth review of the literature to investigate the presence of TA in SSCM with a focus on digital-based supply chains. The review used both bibliometric and content analysis methods to analyze relevant research articles, with the goal of providing a comprehensive understanding of the current state of research in the field, identifying any gaps in the literature, and providing direction for future research. The content analysis of the literature showed the absence of concrete frameworks for SSCM and the need for clearer and more applicable sustainability measurement indices. To address this gap, the study proposed a framework for achieving sustainable development goals through SSCM. In addition, a framework for deploying sustainability indicators was presented. The proposed framework can be used by practitioners to develop practical and comprehensive measures for their respective industries.

The failure of transparency as self-regulation

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the existence of a transparency gap between voluntary external sustainability reporting and internal sustainability performance of an organisation arising from the operationalisation of transparency as an instrumental tool.Design/methodology/approachThis study combined an analysis of a firm’s sustainability report (secondary data) with a qualitative case study data (primary data comprising interviews, meetings and internal documents) to understand how the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines are applied in practice.FindingsBy comparing what is reported with a range of primary case study data, this study finds evidence of transparency gaps, particularly in terms of the quality of measurement of sustainability performance, the materiality of issues covered and the completeness of the report. This study posits that voluntary disclosures following the GRI guidelines (transparency technique) shape the external expression of acceptable corporate behaviour (transparency norm) that is nevertheless at odds with actual behaviour or performance.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate the importance of mandatory sustainability reporting requirements that facilitate accountability to all key stakeholders and that are externally assured and enforced. Such requirements might take the form of standards that put boundaries on judgement and address material sustainable development impacts and that are accompanied by implementation guidance. Non-financial assurance practices must be developed to cover adherence to reporting principles and processes.Social implicationsTransparency gaps that result from voluntary disclosure guidelines or standards being used to imply a transparency norm may undermine accountability for the impacts of the organisation and hinder alignment of business models and corporate strategies with sustainable development.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to a theoretical understanding of transparency as a form of self-regulation and has implications for the further development of sustainability reporting standards.