Managing for integration: a longitudinal analysis of management control for sustainability

Battaglia, Massimo; Passetti, Emilio; Bianchi, Lara; Frey, Marco

Abstract

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Based on a longitudinal eight-year study (2006–2014) in a large Italian food co-operative, this paper analyses whether and how the development and the use of sustainability control systems have been able to promote the integration of sustainability within organisational strategy. The co-operative has implemented three main instruments (sustainability report, sustainability annual plan and participatory social plan), which have been able to promote sustainability integration by inducing technical integration and reinforcing the cognitive enablers. However, strong cognitive (and organisational) barriers have gradually stifled the cognitive enablers and have not enabled sustainability to be fully integrated into the organisational strategy. As such, the integration process was marginalised, also due to the negative economic performance of the co-operative. The paper shows that sustainability integration remains a fragile concept even in a co-operative, despite the similarities between co-operative values and the principles of corporate social responsibility. Theoretically, the paper offers empirical evidences concerning management control literature for sustainability.

Citation

Battaglia, M., Passetti, E., Bianchi, L., & Frey, M. (2016). Managing for integration: a longitudinal analysis of management control for sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 136(Part A), 213-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.108

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 27, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Feb 18, 2016
• Publication Date: Nov 10, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 27, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 9, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production
• Print ISSN: 0959-6526
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 136
• Issue: Part A
• Pages: 213-225
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.108
• Keywords: : organisational strategy, co-operative enterprise, management control system, sustainability control system, social and environmental accounting
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2507717
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652616001992
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Managing for integration: a longitudinal analysis of management control for sustainability; Journal Title: Journal of Cleaner Production; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.108; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.