Social Sustainability in Business Organizations: A Research Agenda

Abstract

Since the economic crisis in 2008, the world has seen a partly negative shift in social progress, highlighting that current economic models and practices do not guarantee long-lasting societal and human wellbeing. Economic models and business practices are deeply intertwined; thus, businesses play a major role in the advancement of social sustainability, and academic research can offer support in navigating the complexity of this issue. However, social sustainability tends to be under-researched. This article summarizes the discussion in general business management, product development, and supply-chain management, and from this suggest a research agenda to help in guiding systematic change in business organizations towards social sustainability. The article identifies ten main challenges and offers five recommendations to move the field forward, namely, a more explicit engagement with and discussion of social systems-science based ideas, and a more explicit determination as a field to converge on key pieces leading towards a clearer definition of the concept. Lastly, it recommends that research needs to focus on how to overcome fragmented organizational structures, how to achieve true integration into existing processes and tools, and how to support organizations to become more dynamic in working with these issues.

The social pillar of sustainable development: Measurement and current status of social sustainability of aged care projects in China

“…This research gap is consistent with the study by Missimer and Mesquita (2022) on social sustainability in business organisations. Their findings reveal that much of the literature shies away from a precise definition of social sustainability and thus induces randomness in including related issues.…”

“…Furthermore, the Chinese context lacks a clear definition and indicators for social sustainability in aged care projects, making it challenging to assess the current status of its realisation. This research gap is consistent with the study by Missimer and Mesquita (2022) on social sustainability in business organisations.…”

Linking Sustainable Design and Social Sustainability Performance of Chemical Manufacturing Firms: Moderating Role of Islamic Work Ethics

“…One of the key elements indicated for the sustainability of the organisations is the building of social capital. The concept of social sustainability in business management is referred to by a variety of terms [42]. Maintaining or enhancing the quality of life for the next generations is the focus of the social aspect of business sustainability [43].…”

Co-Designing Sustainable Coordination to Support Inter-Organizational Decision Making

“…As such, complexities in inter-organizational projects tend to lead to coordination challenges that can often slow down project execution, and therefore increase project costs [4]. Relevant factors for projects to achieve sustainable development, not only include time and cost, but also social aspects, such as the consideration of stakeholders and their interconnections [5]. As stated by Missimer and Mesquita [5] (p. 8), enabling social sustainability requires "more robust and encompassing stakeholder engagement", using a high-level definition of success in order to achieve effective coordination.…”

“…Relevant factors for projects to achieve sustainable development, not only include time and cost, but also social aspects, such as the consideration of stakeholders and their interconnections [5]. As stated by Missimer and Mesquita [5] (p. 8), enabling social sustainability requires "more robust and encompassing stakeholder engagement", using a high-level definition of success in order to achieve effective coordination. For the purposes of this paper, the notion of sustainability refers to social sustainability.…”