Measuring sustainability in practice: Exploring the inclusion of sustainability into corporate performance systems in Brazilian case studies
Abstract
Given the challenge of measuring corporate sustainability in practice, the aim of the present exploratory research is to investigate the incorporation of sustainability in corporate performance measurement systems, towards sustainability performance measurement system (SPMS). More specifically, the research seeks to explore the factors that affect the interaction between sustainability indicators regarding their relative priority for decision making and to investigate how firms include sustainability indicators into their corporate performance measurement systems. To address these objectives, cross-sector case studies were conducted in five firms located in Brazil. Data were collected based on semi-structured interviews and triangulated with published reports and internal documents. The results show four performance measurement systems that encompass sustainability indicators: (a) periodic performance measurement system of a specific area/department; (b) individual performance assessment; (c) sustainability reporting; and (d) project assessment. The paper value lies in bringing a structured view of integrating sustainability in a corporate performance measurement system, based on empirical evidence. However, further research is still needed to develop a more integrative and dynamic SPMS encompassing both leading and lagging indicators to better understand the priorities, interactions and tradeoffs between sustainability indicators.
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For an integrated management of sustainability issues, environmental, social, financial, and risk performance indicators should be combined into an overall performance measurement system.
“For an integrated management of sustainability issues, environmental, social, financial, and risk performance indicators should be combined into an overall performance measurement system [26,28,31].”
From Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration? (2018) · cites this paper as [31]
Several publications deal with the incorporation of sustainability into specific aspects of business, but they consider a single measure as a technocratic illusion, no matter how sophisticated it might be.
“Several publications deal with the incorporation of sustainability into specific aspects of business [31], but they consider a single measure as a technocratic illusion, no matter how sophisticated it might be [26].”
From Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration? (2018) · cites this paper as [31]
The interviews and documents were analyzed qualitatively through iterative coding into themes formalized by the research objectives.
“The interviews and documents were analyzed qualitatively through iterative coding into the themes formalized by the research objectives [31] to unravel new concepts from the data [127,128].”
From Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration? (2018) · cites this paper as [31]
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- Authors
- Morioka, S. N., & Carvalho, M. M.
- Affiliations
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Morioka, Sandra Naomi
- Venue
- Journal of Cleaner Production
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-11
- Volume
- 136
- Pages
- 123-133
- ISSN
- 0959-6526 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2280043521
- Cited by
- 138
- References
- 93
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 27.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Cleaner Production (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq)
- Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management Information Systems › Accounting and Organizational Management
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy
- Keywords
- corporate sustainability, sustainability performance measurement, sustainability indicators, sustainability reporting, leading and lagging indicators, indicator prioritization, decision-making, Brazilian companies
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