Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Palgrave
Handbook of Corporate
Sustainability in the
Digital Era
Editors
Seung Ho Park Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez
Nanyang Technological University Universidad EAFIT
Singapore, Singapore Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
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Seung Ho Park
To Ja Young (my wife), Alexandra and Amelia (my daughters).
Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez
Dedicated to my Mum (1944–2020), to Dr. Carlos Enrique Piedrahita
(1954–2018), and to my loved boy Cian Felipe (2008–2020).
Dinorá Eliete Floriani
To Flavio, my husband. My father and my mother,
Leopoldo and Izolda Floriani.
Introduction
Business sustainability in a digital era requires a new way of doing business in the
twenty-first century. Sustainability and digitalization provide challenges and opportuni-
ties to companies that require new capabilities and organizational adaptation. While
they have drawn much attention in academic research and business practices, the man-
agement field is still unsure of the scope, related issues, and organizational processes and
outcomes of these concepts. This Handbook is an ambitious attempt to provide multi-
disciplinary ideas in the global context that pave the way to advanced knowledge devel-
opment and valuable business practices of digitalization and sustainability. It provides a
comprehensive and broad picture of the nature, applications, and execution of sustain-
ability in a digital era.
Sustainability in a digital era requires a complex and broad scope of corpo-
rate changes, including social commitment and firm embeddedness in the loca-
tion of the primary businesses. Corporate sustainability entails systematic and
future-oriented behavioral changes at the individual, organizational, and cul-
tural levels. It also requires changes in how companies cope with different busi-
ness environments and public policies that cause an unprecedented level of
uncertainty and political turmoil.
Corporate sustainability and digital transformation are multidimensional
concepts that relate to various academic disciplines. These concepts are being
explored in various fields that would lead to complementary understanding
and theoretical integrations. There is also much variation in practicing these
concepts across country borders. This Handbook includes studies from multi-
ple disciplines, including political economy, marketing, strategy, accounting,
information technology, and so on, across various countries of advanced and
emerging markets. It is a gateway and a guide to understanding these critical
and timely subjects in the most comprehensive and relevant way.
In this digital era, it is not possible to create long-term value for organiza-
tions without considering ethical, social, environmental, cultural, and eco-
nomic aspects. Corporate sustainability recognizes that organizational growth
and profits are essential, but it is not merely this. Organizations focusing on
vii
viii Introduction
Part II focuses on the economic, political, and ethical challenges in the pro-
cess of digitalization. Some scenarios were constructed in this part of the book,
brewing up through 2025, expecting the future to transform corporate sus-
tainability radically for social advantage. This section includes studies dealing
with the role of corporate social responsibility views and political criticism of
capitalism and wealth effects on corporate sustainability. The political forces
underpinning populism introduce their impacts on business, demanding that
global organizations become more flexible in dealing with a complex and
uncertain world and with the advance of digital technologies. The challenges
to sustainability imposed by the digital revolution, social trends, and global
imbalances and how to surpass these obstacles present the economy of attention
as a concept that must be taken into account to conceive creative ways of
understanding the digital economy from a human and ethical perspective. The
role of the economy of attention in conceiving creative ways of understanding
the digital economic needs to develop global regulation mechanisms to man-
age Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data is also discussed in terms of being
very challenging. The knowledge of existing regulations introduces a new cul-
ture in the business ecosystem and the dynamics of public interest in artificial
intelligence. Nevertheless, the negative impacts of digitally enabled globaliza-
tion on individuals, communities, and nation-states is also being treated in this
part of the book, presenting how to overcome these impacts through a change
in values toward stakeholder perspective, leadership, and connection through
information, communication, and technology. Additionally, the digital revolu-
tion, social trends, and global imbalances make it challenging to address the
impact on environmental management, technology transfer, and local capacity
building of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic firms’ after
learning orientation and catching up strategies during outward FDI. This sec-
tion also discusses the local capacity building of FDI in local firms following
learning orientation and catching up strategies during outward FDI, also look-
ing at the dark side of the new globalization and joint efforts to mitigate its
harmful effects.
Part III of the Handbook addresses questions related to corporate sustain-
ability and organizational resilience in the digital era. This part discusses the
influence of automation and digitalization on humans and the impact of digi-
talization on the future of work. The chapters in this section raise discussions
about the link between sustainability and digitalization practices in the logistics
service industry, the link between blockchain technology and business sustain-
ability agenda, the effects of digital transformation on corporate sustainability
accounting (CSA), and the use of big data analytics to achieve triple bottom
line (TBL) sustainability. It also brings investigations on climate change disclo-
sures in sustainability reports in different national cultures, the relation of
workplace happiness and women’s advancement and leadership, and the role of
storytelling in the management of sustainability. From a marketing point of
view, we bring discussions about the impact of corporate disclosure practices
and social media on intellectual capital, virtuous co-creation practices in the
x Introduction
xi
xii Contents
Index857
Notes on Contributors
xvii
xviii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
graphic basins, identifying models and indicators for basin management. She is
an ad hoc CAPES consultant in the evaluation of Academic and Professional
Programs in the area of Environmental Sciences.
Sílvio Luís de Vasconcellos Professor and Researcher of organizational cre-
ativity and international entrepreneurship at FURB, Brazil. He holds a Doctor
in Company Management from UNISINOS.
Timothy M. Devinney is Professor of International Business at Alliance
Manchester Business School, UK. He has published more than a dozen books
and 100 articles in leading journals including Journal of International Business
Studies, Management Science, The Academy of Management Review,
Organization Science, Journal of Business Ethics, and the Strategic Management
Journal. In 2008 he was the first (and only) recipient in management of the
Alexander von Humboldt Research Award and was Rockefeller Foundation
Bellagio Fellow, and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of International
Business. He is on the editorial board of more than 12 of the leading interna-
tional journals.
Orsolya Diófási-Kovács is Assistant Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain
Management at Corvinus University of Budapest. Her field of research is sus-
tainability within the supply chain (e.g., green logistics, sustainable procure-
ment) and she is interested in the new trends and technologies enabling more
sustainable solutions within this field. She teaches several courses (Logistics
Management, Operations Management, Sustainable Public Procurement) and
works in the field of environmental management consulting, implementing
green procurement, and supporting ecolabelling projects.
Joshua Kofi Doe is Lecturer of Marketing at Central University, Ghana. He
holds a Master of Philosophy in marketing degree from the University of
Ghana Business School. His research interest is in the adoption of technologi-
cal innovation to marketing activities and consumer responses to such strate-
gies. He is currently in a PhD program with the Open University of Netherlands.
His PhD thesis is to develop an eco-system perspective Firm Level
Technology Adoption Model that accounts for the influence of personal
and societal level factors as well as technological characteristics on firm
factors and firm adoption.
Shadi Erfani is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of School Teaching &
Learning at the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, School of
Information, Systems and Modelling, University of Technology Sydney.
Erfani possesses a highly honed set of managerial and research skills. She
has a strong proven track record of high-quality publications to her credit.
She has taught and coordinated numerous subjects at the undergraduate
and postgraduate level at various academic institutes. Prior to joining
academia, she has worked in senior and managerial roles in a number of national
and international organizations.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xxi
Trade) of the Center for Social and Economic Research in Poland. A leading
scholar on the evolution of economic institutions. Hartwell’s interests are in
institutional development, especially the interplay between financial institu-
tions and other institutions. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Warsaw
School of Economics, a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard, and a BA
in Political Science and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Fabio Miguel Junges is Professor of Economics and Digital Transformation
at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil, where he
received a doctorate in Company Management. Junge is also an entrepreneur
in the information technology industry and a researcher.
Jerome Katrichis is Professor of Marketing at the University of Hartford
Barney School of Business, USA. His research interests are in B2B Marketing,
Customer Satisfaction, Market Orientation, and Digital Marketing. He has
published in the Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business to Business
Marketing, and Industrial Marketing Management, where he serves on the
editorial board. He is active in several academic, civic, and business
associations.
Larita J. Killian is Professor at Indiana University-Columbus, USA, and a
Visiting Professor at Universidad Privada Boliviana. Previously, she served as a
financial specialist for the US Department of Defense. She is the recipient
of national education awards from the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants and the Association of Government Accountants, and
was selected as a Fulbright Specialist in business. She earned a doctorate
from Stanford University and has authored two books and numerous
journal articles, with an emphasis on government financial management
and accountability.
Andreas Kornelakis is Senior Lecturer in International Management at
King’s Business School, King’s College London, UK. His interests concern the
changing political-economic environment in Europe with a focus on compara-
tive employment relations, technology, and HRM. His work has appeared in a
wide range of academic journals including: Work, Employment & Society; British
Journal of Industrial Relations; Business History; and The International Journal
of Human Resource Management.
Dilek Cetindamar Kozanoglu is Associate Professor in the School of
Information, Systems, and Modelling at University of Technology Sydney
(UTS), Australia. She worked at many universities, including Case Western
Reserve University, Chalmers University of Technology, and Sabanci University.
She has more than 100 publications, including 9 books. She was awarded the
PICMET Fellowship in 2019. She received a best book award from the
International Association for Management of Technology in 2012 and an
“encouragement award” from the Turkish Academy of Sciences in 2003.
xxiv NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
"En minä oikein käsitä, miten tämä olo nyt tuntuu niin virkeältä ja
hauskalta", virkkoi lehtori.
"Kyllä minä aina voin toimittaa yhtä hauskaa, jos vain suostutte
minun ohjeihini. Noustaan aikaisin, ollaan liikkeessä ja puuhataan
jotakin", neuvoi lehtori.
Lehtorin mieli oli alkuaan ollut avoin kuin virheetön peili, mutta sen
pinta oli vähitellen himmennyt sikäli, kuin hän oli huomannut
rouvansa kykenemättömäksi käsittämään sellaista syvällistä
selvyyttä.
Nytkin hänestä tuntui oikein raskaalta tuon salaisuuden pitäminen.
Mutta jos hän olisi sanonut vaimolleen, että rouva Streng oli häntä
ymmärtävämpi tai muuta sen tapaista, niin olisi vaimo sen käsittänyt
moitteeksi ja ollut liian ylpeä sitä kärsimään, samalla olisi vaimo
myöskin saanut mustasukkaisuuden aihetta, joka sitte olisi tuottanut
suurta kiusaa sekä hänelle itselleen että myöskin lehtorille.
"Ei kukaan voi olla liian hyvä, eikähän hyvyyden pitäisi ketään
pakoon ajaa. Ettekö enää pidä minua ystävänänne?"
"Pidän liiaksikin."
"En minä itsekään. Sen vain tunnen, että minun tarvitsisi puhua,
mutta en voi kellekään."
"Ettekö minullekaan?"
"No, kyllä ainakin yhdelle voitte puhua, tuonne!" Hän osoitti kohti
taivasta.
Hän astui reippaasti rouvan luo, antoi kättä ja lausui vain yhden
sanan: "kiitos!"
"Minä olen nyt tänä kesänä huomannut, mikä suuri ero on teidän
ja minun vaimoni välillä."
*****
Nyt kun lehtori tänä äsken kerrottuna aamuna nousi, oli rouvakin
ollut sen verran liikkeellä, että sattumalta huomasi rouva Strengin
lähdön kori kädessä. Hän oli nukkuvinaan uudestaan; mutta kun
lehtori peseydyttyään ja pukeuduttuaan läksi ulos, riensi hän salaa
ikkunasta katsomaan, menikö hänen miehensä samanne päin. Ihan
oikein: kori hänelläkin kädessä ja samaa tietä. Eiköhän tuo ollut vain
edeltä päin sovittua!
"En minä tiedä, jo hän oli poissa, kun minä heräsin ja yritin kahvia
viemään."
"Oikeaan aikaan hän toki muisti, että Mari olikin vain piika ja
keskeytti syvälle kätketyn salaisuutensa tunnustuksen.
"En minä nyt jaksa nousta," sanoi hän sitte selvemmällä äänellä,
"tuo vain kahvia ensin."
Katri kuitenkin paraiksi toi kahvin, että rouva pääsi vaarasta. Hän
joi kupin, jopa toisenkin, ja vähän virkistyi hetkiseksi, kunnes kahvin
lämpö tuotti uutta kuumetta. Ei ollut ajattelemistakaan ylös
nousemista.
Rouva ensin oli vähällä muistaa, että unta hän kaiketi olikin
nähnyt; vaan toinen tunne oli vahvempi. Hän ajatteli: "teeskentelijä!
mutta osaan sitä minäkin teeskennellä!"
"Älä sano niin; en minä ole sinua oikein rakastanut ennen kuin
nyt."
*****