Dr. Rezaee accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Inquiry

For release:  October 17, 2016

Dr. Zabihollah Rezaee, Thompson-Hill Chair of Excellence and professor of Accountancy, was recently accepted for publication in the Special Issue (Vol.15) of the Journal of Business Inquiry. The paper is entitled "Corporate Sustainability: Theoretical and Integrated Strategic Imperative and Pragmatic Approach."

The paper discusses the tension and possible link between economic sustainability performance (ESP) and non-financial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sustainability. It presents a framework consisting of four integrated strategies of the sustainability theory integration, sustainable shared value creation, continuous performance improvements, and sustainability performance reporting and assurance. Propositions are advanced for each of these four strategies in promoting future sustainability research. The proposed framework presents the continuous improvements of sustainability performance in developing a business model based on stakeholder/stewardship theory that generates sustainable shared value creation, brand building, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and environmental and social activities. This integrated sustainability framework acknowledges that sustainability decision-making is also complex and fraught with uncertainty, just as decision-making for shareholder value, because sustainability is also about making investments in light of an uncertain future. The framework developed in this paper integrates ESP and ESG sustainability performance dimensions into managerial decision-making under uncertainty related to the potential complementary/completing and or competing/conflicting tensions among sustainability performance dimensions. It discusses sustainability performance dimensions in terms of their contributions to shared value creation that benefit all stakeholders.