Expected impact

Expected scientific impact of the research
Our research design allows the comprehensive coverage and analysis of the whole sustainability construction chain: sustainability orientation, sustainability systems and sustainability reporting. New understanding of how sustainability is constructed is expected to be generated regarding institutional pressures, its determinants, its external communication and internal and external sustainability construction.

Stakeholder and legitimacy theories have failed in prior attempts to understand sustainability reporting in China, but studies based on institutional theory and sustainability have shown potential. Thus we will focus on institutional theory. Data will be obtained from two different institutional regimes: China and Finland, enabling us to scrutinise theoretical appropriateness in each setting while generating new theoretical insights.

In brief, our research designs and findings should inspire other researchers to increase the theoretical premises and institutional settings of sustainability construction research, thus refining theory and advancing scientific understanding of how and why firms construct their sustainability.

Expected effects and impact beyond academia
We expect to provide inputs for decision-making processes at the corporate and policy-making levels, thus promoting sustainability – its construction and its communication.

Understanding the critical factors that affect firm’s sustainability orientation will assist policy makers and regulators in developing ways to create sustainable and responsible economic growth. When policy decision makers have accurate and country-specific information about factors affecting firm sustainability construction, they should have stronger grounds for their decisions. For example, equal transparency requirements for firms that have certain critical production processes could aid their sustainability construction. Policy decisions could also encourage firms to share their best practices.

Similarly, corporate managers are better equipped for sustainability construction when there is suitable information available for sustainability orientation, sustainability systems and sustainability reporting. A cleantech hub exists in Finland and provides sustainability innovations and expertise. SUSTAIN can potentially contribute to this hub as the project’s research outcomes will have practical relevance: case studies in SUSTAIN could facilitate context-specific generalisations about other firms’ best practices.

Furthermore, comparing China with Finland will have implications for Finnish firms and other Western firms with subsidiaries/units operating in China or Chinese firms which have subsidies/units operating in Finland or other Western countries. For example, Finnish managers could learn how to better adapt sustainability policy and accounting systems in a Chinese context while Chinese managers may learn from Finnish best practices.

SUSTAIN recognises networking as well as scientific seminars targeted towards those actively involved (practitioners) in sustainability (e.g. Finnish Business & Society, FIBS) as platforms for advancing the dissemination of results and boosting dialogue between researchers and practitioners.