Organizational Culture and the Success of Corporate Sustainability Initiatives: An Empirical Analysis using the Competing Values Framework

In response to the threats posed by climate change, water scarcity and other emerging environmentalissues, corporations have prioritized sustainability as a core business issue. Many companies havelearned that sustainability represents a distinct competitive opportunity, but not all companies aresuccessfully addressing these opportunities and challenges. A review of existing literature points toorganizational culture as an important driver behind the success of sustainability initiatives, yet littleempirical research has been done to describe the relationship between company culture andsustainability. This study uses the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to understand the relationshipbetween company culture and sustainability initiative success across 23 companies. The study finds thatculture does indeed matter in corporate sustainability success and points towards additional dimensionsfor companies to consider when planning and implementing such initiatives.