Measuring corporate sustainability: a Thai approach

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to measure the Thai approach of corporate sustainability. In the corporate world, the Thai philosophy of Sufficiency Economy can be applied to ensure corporate sustainability. Derived from the literature, a structural model expressing relationships between six independent variables of Sufficiency Economy indicators and three dependent variables of sustainability performance outcomes is formed accordingly, followed by hypotheses to be tested. Design/methodology/approach – The model is tested through a random sample of 294 chief executive officers (CEOs) in Thailand who were asked to respond to a questionnaire. Factor and regression analyses are adopted to test the hypotheses. Findings – Findings indicate that “perseverance” and “resilience” are two direct predictors of three sustainability outcomes of the firm’s enhanced capacity to deliver strong performance, endure social and economic crises and deliver public benefits. “Geosocial development” is a direct predictor of firm’s enhanced capacity to deliver public benefits and an indirect predictor of firm’s enhanced capacity to deliver strong performance and to endure social and economic crises. “Moderation” is an indirect predictor of the firm’s capacity to endure social and economic crises, while “sharing” is an indirect predictor of all three sustainability performance outcomes. Practical implications – Small- and medium-sized enterprises business leaders should develop a “perseverance” culture in their organizations and practice “resilience” to enhance their corporate sustainability prospect. Moreover, they should adopt “geosocial development”, “moderation” and “sharing” practices in their organizations, as these practices positively affect corporate sustainability performance directly or indirectly. Originality/value – This study is among the first few studies that identify corporate sustainability performance predictors.

Science Mapping of the Knowledge Base on Sustainable Leadership, 1990–2018

“…It can be termed the Sustainable Leadership School. This school is associated with the values-based models of sustainable leadership that integrate social, economic, and environmental dimensions [5,6,8,25]. While this is a relatively small school, the size of the nodes of its key scholars reinforces its importance within this literature.…”

“…While there were exceptions, authors in the other Schools tended to focus more narrowly on selected dimensions of sustainable leadership (e.g., ethical leadership, responsible leadership, environmental leadership, change leadership, corporate sustainability). Only scholars in the Sustainable Leadership School consistently tended to consistently addressed the full range of processes associated with leadership for sustainable development [5,6,8,42,43,60,76].…”

“…Sustainable leadership reorients the mission of organizations towards multiple indicators of success that go beyond the traditional measures of staff satisfaction, commitment, and task performance [4,11,13,60]. These typically include, the 'triple bottom-line' of economic, social, and environmental outcomes [6,12,24,25,60].…”

Assessing Corporate Sustainability with the Enterprise Sustainability Evaluation Tool (E-SET)

“…The indicators in E-SET are also aligned with sustaincentrism, which is the continuous development towards social, ecological, and economic equity at both global and local levels [43]. E-SET's indicators are also in accordance with Kantabutra's Sufficiency Economy Leadership Practices, which says that a sustainable company must (a) have an organizational culture that promotes values such as ethical behaviour; (b) adopt a long-term business strategy that positively affects all stakeholders, including employees; (c) develop products or services through innovation and effective and efficient resource use; and (d) make fair and well-contemplated financial decisions [44].…”

Achieving Corporate Sustainability: Toward a Practical Theory

“…Available empirical evidence that endorses the philosophy, and the literature on sustainability performance outcomes is reviewed. Based on a previous study [25], a model expressing relationships between corporate sustainability predictors and sustainability performance outcomes is derived for the present study to explore the processes by which the predictors create effects on sustainability performance outcomes. Given that the literature on Sufficiency Economy in business is predominantly empirical, we adopt Ketprapakorn and Kantabutra's [24] theory of Sufficiency Economy in business to inform the development of our theory and its associated model.…”