Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of Configuration

Environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) is critical to leading sustainable business practices, so it has become a promising and attractive topic for green sustainable development. However, how to coordinate the forces of government, consumers, competitors, and managers to drive firms to adopt...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Qing Li, Yanli Zhang, Wenxin Zhang, Kun Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-04-01
Series:SAGE Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251336696
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850041207105781760
author Qing Li
Yanli Zhang
Wenxin Zhang
Kun Chen
author_facet Qing Li
Yanli Zhang
Wenxin Zhang
Kun Chen
author_sort Qing Li
collection DOAJ
description Environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) is critical to leading sustainable business practices, so it has become a promising and attractive topic for green sustainable development. However, how to coordinate the forces of government, consumers, competitors, and managers to drive firms to adopt ESO is an important theoretical and practical issue to be further studied. Based on stakeholder theory, we develop a configurational framework and propose that high ESO is contingent upon the coordination among perceived policy pressure, consumer pressure, competitive pressure, and manager commitment. By using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) in 127 cases, we reveal that single antecedent condition of stakeholder is difficult to form high ESO and identify them into three different pathways. The results further indicate that there is an asymmetric relationship between the three high ESO paths and the two non-high ESO paths, that is, the relationship between “high ESO” and “non-high ESO” is not either/or. The study highlights the theoretical significance of ESO based on the configuration of multiple antecedents among different stakeholders, which makes up the gap of the traditional statistical analysis on the interpretation of ESO. We also provide implications for the government and enterprises to promote the formation of ESO.
format Article
id doaj-art-acbd89d3204f459f907c84fda1cf4393
institution DOAJ
issn 2158-2440
language English
publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher SAGE Publishing
record_format Article
series SAGE Open
spelling doaj-art-acbd89d3204f459f907c84fda1cf43932025-08-20T02:55:49ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402025-04-011510.1177/21582440251336696Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of ConfigurationQing Li0Yanli Zhang1Wenxin Zhang2Kun Chen3School of Management, Changchun University, Changchun, ChinaDepartment of Retirement, Jilin University, Changchun, ChinaSchool of Economics, Management and Law, Jilin Normal University, Siping, ChinaSchool of Management, Changchun University, Changchun, ChinaEnvironmental sustainability orientation (ESO) is critical to leading sustainable business practices, so it has become a promising and attractive topic for green sustainable development. However, how to coordinate the forces of government, consumers, competitors, and managers to drive firms to adopt ESO is an important theoretical and practical issue to be further studied. Based on stakeholder theory, we develop a configurational framework and propose that high ESO is contingent upon the coordination among perceived policy pressure, consumer pressure, competitive pressure, and manager commitment. By using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) in 127 cases, we reveal that single antecedent condition of stakeholder is difficult to form high ESO and identify them into three different pathways. The results further indicate that there is an asymmetric relationship between the three high ESO paths and the two non-high ESO paths, that is, the relationship between “high ESO” and “non-high ESO” is not either/or. The study highlights the theoretical significance of ESO based on the configuration of multiple antecedents among different stakeholders, which makes up the gap of the traditional statistical analysis on the interpretation of ESO. We also provide implications for the government and enterprises to promote the formation of ESO.https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251336696
spellingShingle Qing Li
Yanli Zhang
Wenxin Zhang
Kun Chen
Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of Configuration
SAGE Open
title Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of Configuration
title_full Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of Configuration
title_fullStr Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of Configuration
title_full_unstemmed Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of Configuration
title_short Multiple Paths for Driving Environmental Sustainability Orientation from the Perspective of Configuration
title_sort multiple paths for driving environmental sustainability orientation from the perspective of configuration
url https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251336696
work_keys_str_mv AT qingli multiplepathsfordrivingenvironmentalsustainabilityorientationfromtheperspectiveofconfiguration
AT yanlizhang multiplepathsfordrivingenvironmentalsustainabilityorientationfromtheperspectiveofconfiguration
AT wenxinzhang multiplepathsfordrivingenvironmentalsustainabilityorientationfromtheperspectiveofconfiguration
AT kunchen multiplepathsfordrivingenvironmentalsustainabilityorientationfromtheperspectiveofconfiguration