From Rhetoric to Reality: Instruments for Corporate Sustainability Integration

Diplôme Thèse From Rhetoric to Reality: Instruments for Corporate Sustainability Integration eng 2025-06-17 2025-07-14 author Carballo Rebecca 0000-0002-1368-0071 722190 director Hertel Christina Julia 405955 Recherche et enseignement GSEM (RESEM) director Schrempf-Stirling Judith 885161 Recherche et enseignement GSEM (RESEM) 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:187806 urn:nbn:ch:unige-1878063 GSEM 153 This dissertation investigates how companies can substantively integrate sustainability into their strategy and operations amid a fundamental transformation from shareholder primacy toward a stakeholder-centric paradigm. Through three distinct but interconnected studies, the research examines complementary instruments that support systematic incorporation of environmental, social, and governance considerations into organizational strategy and operations to create stakeholder value. The first study conceptually advances understanding of social-commercial hybridization by examining how traditional companies can redesign themselves to effectively integrate societal goals alongside profit objectives. Adapting Galbraith's Star Model, it develops a framework identifying four distinct stages of hybridization, characterized by varying degrees of organizational realignment to support dual goals. The second study quantitatively investigates how companies adjust their sustainability communications after obtaining B Corp certification. Analyzing website content from 2,316 certified B Corps and their certification assessment data, the study reveals complex dynamics in sustainability signaling while contributing to the debate about certification effectiveness. The third study qualitatively analyzes how mandatory sustainability reporting frameworks can drive broader sustainability progress through multi-stakeholder collective action. Drawing on interviews with EU sustainability experts, the research maps the stakeholder ecosystem and identifies how various actors can transform reporting from compliance exercises into catalysts for stakeholder value creation. Collectively, this research reveals that effective sustainability integration requires a multifaceted approach: holistic internal alignment through organization design, credible external validation, and collective stakeholder engagement through regulatory frameworks. The findings demonstrate that sustainability integration should be approached as a dynamic journey rather than a binary state, with complementary instruments reinforcing each other across organizational boundaries. Dewey 650 115 Institute of Management S3 false 155692a0-b272-47b3-a8df-3249fcef6299 Thesis Public Carballo_Dissertation_public_manusc.pdf 2033204 application/pdf 69a917dc2876a1bf8eeef4498b0c5cb6f37b7b1eada0169290ae3b4b081ce879 ccd9f0ae-8694-481a-b7c8-3866eb340660 Imprimatur Public CARBALLO_Rebecca_Grace_Elliott_Impr.pdf 33469 application/pdf 4b501dece3bd55232a9b225d13a81695bb1eca90913960de607c0be3df0b3764 openAccess Faculté d'économie et de management / Institute of Management

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