Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability governance (SG) is a strategic approach for connecting strategic objectives to sustainability initiatives, and comprises the dimensions of capability development, regulations, and control (Li et al., 2014; Wang and Sarkis, 2017). This Special Issue focuses on the management of sustainability as a strategic operations and strategic management function of the business. SG provides strategic direction for sustainability practice management, defines its purpose, and enables the organization to develop sustainability practices that reflect the needs of both internal and external stakeholders (Naciti, 2019). SG also balances the contributions of an organization’s environmental, social, and economic sustainability initiatives to sustainability performance (Aras and Crowther, 2008). SG is an important theoretical framework for sustainability management because it functions as the link between strategy and sustainability outcomes. 

SG is a structure and process through which relationships are defined and actions are allocated to meet the sustainability expectations of stakeholders (Golini et al., 2018). Some streams of the literature consider SG to represent the exertion of power, the management of relationships, and the determination of where value is added (Yadlapalli et al., 2018), whilst other sections consider SG from the viewpoint of supplier integration (Amoako-Gyampah et al., 2019). Capability development (Battaglia et al., 2016; Lang et al., 2012), regulatory systems (Kolk, 2008; Wang and Sarkis, 2017), and management control systems (Battaglia et al., 2016; Maas et al., 2016; Williamson, 1999) have been proposed as affecting sustainability outcomes. Whilst SG can be considered to be comprised of sustainability capability development, regulatory systems, and management control systems, the Guest Editors welcome papers that debate the contents and dimensions of SG.

Objective

This Special Issue focuses on the effects of SG on organizational performance, operations performance, and strategic outcomes including sustainable supply chain management. This Special Issue aims to identify the important governance–performance relationships that SG can create, and to encourage debate and conversation about this important strategic approach to sustainability.

Call for Papers

This Special Issue calls for research contributions that elaborate on SG. Theoretical contributions that propose mathematical approaches or conceptual frameworks that model the complex interplay of factors in SG are also welcome. This call also addresses empirical studies to extend existing/build new theoretical insights on complex and interrelated SG demands or to illustrate the application of best practices and routines for SG. The target audience of this call for papers will be composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of supply chain management, operations management, logistics, and operations research. This Issue will provide insights and support researchers and executives concerned with the management of expertise, knowledge, information, and organizational development in different types of work communities and environments.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Sustainability capability development;
• Sustainability regulatory systems;
• Sustainability management control systems;
• Sustainability as a strategic function;
• Sustainability–performance relationships;
• Sustainability governance in the supply chain;
• Governance of sustainability performance in supply chain;
• Sustainability governance in specific industries, such as construction and food;
• Interplay between sustainability governance and operations management practices including JIT, lean and agile;
• Sustainability governance disclosure.

Prof. Dr. Stuart Orr
Mr. Akshay Jadhav
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainability governance
• sustainability capability development
• sustainability regulatory systems
• sustainability management control systems
• sustainability performance
• sustainable operations
• sustainability strategy