How COVID‐19 Informs Business Sustainability Research: It’s Time for a Systems Perspective

Abstract

In this essay, we argue that by taking a systems lens, sustainability researchers can better understand the implications of COVID‐19 on business and society and prevent future pandemics. A systems lens asks management researchers to move from a firm‐level perspective to one that also considers the broader socioecological context. We argue that for business to prevent future pandemics and assure future prosperity, business must recognize the limits to growth, alternative temporalities that do not pit the short against the long term, the nestedness of local phenomena in global systems, and leverage points that can reduce entrenched systems of social inequalities.

The road to more sustainable firms in the face of a pandemic: Changes needed in employment relationships

“…The Covid-19 pandemic is changing organizational priorities and is demanding new responses which affect the contracts between employers and employees discussed above. Furthermore, current discussions about sustainability in organizations is also at a crossroad, as firms may give priority to economic survival, postponing social, and environmental issues (Bansal et al, 2020). The lockdowns imposed by governments as the pandemic intensified caused supply-and-demand shocks across all sectors.…”

“…This matter is key, not only because such a reflection could generate improved models, but also because implementing more suitable employment relation models could help to recover from the current global crisis caused by the Covid-19. As Bansal et al (2020) suggest, the pandemic has both exposed hidden inequalities due to poor working conditions and created new inequalities. Although such disparities may be resistant to change, we must try to address them to build HRM systems that will allow for the sustainable development of organizations.…”

Beyond COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrative Review of Global Health Crisis Influencing the Evolution and Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Despite been temporarily shut, Lululemon stores in North America indicated its willingness to continue paying employees and provide access to a pay relief fund [ 113 ]. Similarly, Microsoft has committed to paying its hourly workers their regular pay despite the dip in the demand for their services [ 114 ].…”

COVID‐19 and the Future of Management Studies. Insights from Leading Scholars

“…In this regard, COVID‐19 has drawn further attention to – and has brought into clear focus – the need for management scholars to address bigger, bolder, and broader questions. Indeed, management scholars have been challenging the management research community to tackle what are increasingly termed ‘grand challenges’, those complex, multi‐level, multi‐actor issues such as climate change, inequality, implications of mass migrations, and health crises (Bansal et al, 2021; Buckley et al, 2017; Crane and Matten, 2021; Howard‐Grenville, 2021; Munir, 2021). Many of these challenges have been exacerbated and aggravated by COVID‐19; for example, according to the United Nations, and additional 207 million people globally could be pushed into extreme poverty due to the Pandemic (UN, 2020).…”