Sustainability and differentiation : understanding materiality from the context of Indian firms

Nishant, R; Goh, M; Kitchen, PJ

Abstract

Managers do not see all environmental sustainability practices as equally important. Thus, this study seeks to
integrate the natural resource based view (NRBV) and materiality perspective to explore environmental sustainability
practices that firms in India deem material. The findings resulting from text mining using centering
resonance analysis (CRA) reveal that Indian firms see prevailing industry practices such as reverse logistics,
product recycling, and/or improving supplier environmental performance as immaterial. Instead, these firms
focus on water, energy, resource efficiency, supplier integration, and, to some extent, improving work conditions
at supplier sites. Thus, the focus of Indian firms regarding these issues is different from their global
counterparts.

Citation

Nishant, R., Goh, M., & Kitchen, P. (2016). Sustainability and differentiation : understanding materiality from the context of Indian firms. Journal of Business Research, 69(5), 1892-1897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.10.075

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 1, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Nov 30, 2015
• Publication Date: May 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 30, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Business Research
• Print ISSN: 0148-2963
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 69
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1892-1897
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.10.075
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.10.075
• Related Public URLs: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01482963