The Fatal Flaw: Unraveling Combinations of Barriers to Corporate Sustainability

Abstract

The paper deepens understanding of barriers to corporate sustainability by examining internal and external barriers in the food and beverage sector. Drawing on institutional theory, the study highlights how macro‐level pressures interact with meso‐level organizational dynamics. Using data from a questionnaire and analyzed via fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis, the exploration of internal barriers reveals that the combination of insufficient top management motivation, a lack of employee competencies, and misalignment with organizational culture is a critical obstacle to effective strategy implementation. Moreover, the interplay of internal and external barriers, such as weak market demand, limited technological solutions, and inadequate financing, poses considerable challenges to sustainability performance. The study reveals that these barriers stem from conflicting institutional logics across organizational and field levels, with the logic of sustainable development often lacking dominance. The study emphasizes the configurational nature of barriers and the importance of systemic, cross‐level alignment to enable sustainability transformation.