Emerging trends in sustainability research: a look back as we begin to look forward

• This research is a content analysis of 1502 peer-reviewed articles on sustainability. The aim is to investigate emerging themes and trends in this area of research and move towards recommendations for researchers to consider when developing their work in sustainability research. By exploring and tracking sustainability literature in the business and management disciplines over a 20-years period, patterns emerge that could provide a better understanding of the trends within authorship, research topic, and the themes and concepts being studied. One interesting contribution of this study is introducing the concept of the “4Ps of sustainability research,” which emerges by reviewing this area over time. The results suggest that the evolution of sustainability research can be summarized in organizations and firms moving from Principles and Policy towards Practice and Performance during over 20 years of sustainability efforts. This paper also discusses the creation of sustainability value and evolution of businesses to sustainability knowledge centers. It adds to the related literature, by proposing a new way of categorizing sustainability research over time, and introducing a framework for theory building in this area of research.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik -- Miljöledning (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering -- Environmental Management (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Sustainability

Content Analysis

Literature Review

Leximancer

Historical Research

Trends

Miljöledning

Environmental Management

Industrial Marketing

Industriell marknadsföring

Business administration

Miljövetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)