Corporate Sustainability

Corporate sustainability has advanced from branding and greenwashing to a strategic imperative with its integration into corporate culture, business models, corporate governance, managerial decisions, supply chains, and the financial reporting process. Corporate sustainability focuses on financial activities that generate long-term economic sustainability performance (ESP) to create shareholder value as well as non-financial activities that result in the achievement of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability performance to protect interests of all stakeholders. The ethics element of corporate sustainability is integrated into both financial ESP and non-financial ESG components. More companies worldwide are now reporting on some dimensions of their sustainability performance by disclosing both financial ESP and non-financial ESG sustainability performance information. Institutional investors have included ESG information in their investment strategies as initially promoted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in encouraging investors, companies, governments, regulators and citizens to work toward the aim of protecting the planet, making profit, empowering people, promoting peace and prosperity, and ending poverty. Corporations today face the challenges of adapting proper sustainability strategies and practices to effectively respond to the emerging social, ethical, environmental, and governance issues while creating sustainable financial performance and value for their shareholders. Business organizations worldwide are expected to utilize their technological advances to promote the concept of profit-with-purpose in generating returns on investment for shareholders while generating positive social and environmental impacts.

This special issue of the Journal of Sustainability Research (JSR) on “Corporate Sustainability” invites researchers to submit their related work for review and consideration for possible publication in the JSR. All manuscripts relevant to various aspects of corporate sustainability will be considered, including the following:

1. The alignment between corporate sustainability and financial reporting.

2. Themes of corporate sustainability in creating shared value for all stakeholders.

3. Dimensions of sustainability performance, including economic, governance, social, ethical, and environmental (EGSEE) dimensions.

4. The link between financial and non-financial dimensions of business sustainability.

5. The profit-with-purpose business concept of obtaining desired returns on investment for investors while generating positive social and environmental impacts.

6. The business concept of achieving a triple bottom line of planet, people and profit (3Ps).

7. Corporate sustainability theories, standards, guidelines, and best practices.

8. Corporate sustainability risks, including strategic, operational, financial, compliance, and reputation and cybersecurity risks.

9. Management's role in integrating sustainability performance and reporting into corporate culture, the business environment, strategic decisions, and corporate reporting.

10. Research opportunities in corporate sustainability performance, reporting, and assurance.

11. The emerging issues of corporate sustainability education, practice, and research.

12. Corporate social responsibility.

13. The Role of the board of directors in promoting corporate sustainability.

14. Corporate sustainability and financial markets.

15. Integrated reporting of corporate sustainability performance.

16. Assurance on the integrated sustainability reports.

17. Corporate sustainability rankings and indices.

Key Words and Areas of Interest

Professor Zabihollah (Zabi) Rezaee

Guest Editor

Submission Deadline: 31 March 2020

Online Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online through Hapres Online Submission System. Please visit Guide for Authors before submitting a manuscript. Authors are encouraged to submit a paper as soon as it is ready and don’t need to wait until the deadline. Submissions will be sent to peer-review in order of arrival. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the Journal of Sustainability Research and then gathered together on the special issue webpage. We welcome Research articles, Review papers and Short Communications. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

See Papers Published in This Special Issue (26 papers)