Unraveling the sustainability components of organizational value statements : a Q-sort methodology approach

Abstract

Many corporations have now revised their value statements to showcase their commitment to sustainable development and green business due to the pressing issues of climate and environmental damage. Despite the importance of value statements that can direct companies to achieve sustainable goals, which kind of values can be perceived as organizational orientations towards sustainability remains unknown. This study explores how the general public views the inclusion of sustainable components in value statements from listed companies in Hong Kong by using Q-sort methodology (n = 30). Analyzing the final sample of 40 value statements extracted from 27 listed companies, we identified three factors related to sustainability, namely, Empowering business process management, Empowering customer-centric excellence, and Empowering sustainable progress. This study provides an additional component to the traditional triple bottom line by suggesting that the internal operation of a company is an emerging idea in understanding corporate sustainability.