Why companies team up for sustainable development: Antecedents of company engagement in business partnerships for sustainability

Abstract

This article refines and expands the debate on antecedents of company engagement in business partnerships for sustainability. It builds upon the Awareness–Motivation–Capability (AMC) framework and extends it by means of an in‐depth qualitative study. The article thereby expands the understanding of antecedents of company engagement in business partnerships for sustainability. In particular, it advances on the elements related to company‐ and industry‐level motivators and on microlevel aspects. Based on our research findings, we are able to extend the AMC framework's main categories and provide a more nuanced account of the underlying elements constituting them. To reach a more complete understanding of the antecedents of company engagement in business partnerships for sustainability, our analysis provides a general conceptual advancement while also investigating potential differences based on business size and industry.

Externalities in global value chains: fishing industry in the brazilian Amazon region

“…The A-M-C framework proposes the awareness of the externalities, motivations, and capabilities to deal with them. The A-M-C framework, although started in psychology (Buckley & Liesch, 2023), has been used in management extensively in the last 20 years (e.g., see Chell & Allman, 2003) and recently in supply chains and sustainability topics (e.g., Geng, Lam, & Stevenson, 2022;Guo, Li, Liu, & Wu, 2023;Liu, Han, Yao, Gupta, & Laguir, 2023;Riegler, Burton, Scholz., & Melo, 2023;Schniederjans, & Khalajhedayati, 2020).…”

Sustainability partnership as a moderator in the relationship between business sustainability and firm competitiveness

“…Nowadays, emphasis on business sustainability requires taking a comprehensive stakeholder approach that fully benefits limited common resources (Gibson, 2012; Riegler et al, 2023). Thus, a crucial part of a firm's sustainability management is sustainability partnerships.…”

“…The longitudinal single case study of Pucci et al (2020) highlighted that by engaging a specific partner in each challenge of sustainability development, the firm was able to focus on specific value chain activities that led to higher value creation at different phases of the value chain. Sustainability partnerships aim at building and maintaining sustainable relations and at coordinating common practices with the joint goals of realizing value in mind (Dzhengiz et al, 2023; Maak & Pless, 2006; Riegler et al, 2023). These partnerships are also crucial in the realization of business sustainability, which refers to the creation of long‐term value by embracing the firm's economic, environmental, and social responsibilities (Pojasek, 2007).…”