Antecedents of sustainable organizing: A look at the relationship between organizational culture and the triple bottom line

This study used an international sample of 137 firms to examine the relationship between organizational culture and an organization's emphasis on, and its outcomes related to, financial, social, and ecological well-being. The study draws on configuration theory, the Competing Values Framework, and the Triple Bottom Line approach to suggest that: (1) a hierarchy culture is associated with greater emphasis on financially sustainable organizing and with better financial outcomes, (2) a clan culture is associated with greater emphasis on socially sustainable organizing and with better social outcomes, (3) a market culture is associated with greater emphasis on ecologically sustainable organizing and with better ecological outcomes, and (4) an adhocracy culture is associated with greater emphasis on holistically sustainable organizing and with better holistic outcomes. Using a case survey methodology and objective performance measures, the findings provide support for the hypothesized relationships between the hierarchy culture and financially sustainable organizing, the clan culture and socially sustainable organizing and outcomes, and the market culture and ecologically sustainable outcomes. These results suggest that organizational culture is related to sustainability in predictable ways, that a configuration theory approach is useful in understanding this relationship, and provide a basis for future research to explore additional configuration elements in sustainable organization typologies. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.