Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

The key drivers for managing sustainability-related knowledge : an empirical study

Egbu, CO; Renukappa, S

The key drivers for managing sustainability-related knowledge : an empirical study Thumbnail


Authors

CO Egbu

S Renukappa



Abstract

Periodically, new major forces dramatically reshape the business world. Just as globalisation,
the information technology revolution and the knowledge economy have been doing for the past
two decades. In the early part of this twenty-first century, the most important pressures facing
businesses worldwide, especially those in the developed world, is arguably the need for
integrating sustainability issues into daily business operations. For businesses, the creation of
economic value by integrating corporate social and environmental responsibility issues now
increasingly pose real profound strategic challenges. These complex challenges involve
numerous processes carried out and influenced by many stakeholders to set the tone and guide
corporate level decisions. As organisations try to meet these complex challenges, they need to
be innovative. This often calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge.
Therefore, knowledge resources must be properly managed to provide an environment for wellinformed
decisions. Much of the sustainability related knowledge evolves around on-going
learning from the actions taken by managers and stakeholders who enact the organisation’s
sustainability-related change initiatives.
This paper primarily reports on the empirical findings of an on-going research study, which is
focused on managing change and knowledge associated with sustainability initiatives for
organisational competitiveness. The paper focuses on the key drivers that have fuelled the need
for managing sustainability-related knowledge. The findings are, in the main, based on semistructured
interviews with fifty-nine professionals from forty UK organisations in four sectors –
energy and utility, transportation, construction, and not-for-profit organisations. The paper
concludes that identifying and understanding the key drivers for managing sustainability-related
knowledge is a complex process. The key drivers for managing sustainability-related knowledge
as revealed by the current study are to improve accessibility to sustainability-related knowledge,
to identify sustainability-related knowledge assets, to improve the flow of sustainability-related
knowledge, to build sustainability-related skills and capabilities and to capture key
sustainability-related knowledge.

Citation

Egbu, C., & Renukappa, S. The key drivers for managing sustainability-related knowledge : an empirical study. Presented at CIB W102 and W096 Conference on Improving Performance, Helsinki, Finland

Presentation Conference Type Other
Conference Name CIB W102 and W096 Conference on Improving Performance
Conference Location Helsinki, Finland
End Date Jun 4, 2008
Publication Date Jun 3, 2008
Deposit Date Mar 10, 2011
Publicly Available Date Apr 5, 2016
Additional Information Event Type : Conference

Files






Downloadable Citations