Sustainability agency at the top of the organization: microfoundations research on corporate sustainability

Abstract

As the most influential members of the organization, leaders such as CEOs, top managers and board directors, play a central role in shaping a company’s sustainability strategy and performance. The study of leaders’ influence in corporate sustainability has increasingly taken a microfoundational perspective which considers the individual, micro-level drivers of firm, and macro-level outcomes. In this chapter, we review the work on microfoundations in corporate sustainability by looking at managerial motivations, such as instrumental, relational, and moral drivers, and other socio-cognitive factors like managerial cognition and personality traits. In addition, we consider the interactions between micro- and macro-levels that function as important boundary conditions. We discuss some critical limitations and provide a future roadmap of microfoundational corporate sustainability research. With calls for more action on responsible leadership and sustainability and an urgent need to address the negative effects of business on society and the natural environment, this field of study is critical to advance management and organization research with important implications to managerial practices for corporate sustainability.