Factors influencing the sustainable development of organizations

Today’s organizations face various challenges that put them at unknown cross-roads full of opportunities as well as hazards. The field of sustainable development has generated a large and growing body of academic literature. However, there is a scarcity of those academic studies relating to the sustainable development of organizations (SDO). It is this gap in knowledge that this research has sought to address and fill by setting out to answer the question as to what factors have been found by scholars of relevant literature to influence SDO. A developed model of systematic review (SR) methodology has been applied in this research. This model comprises phases, criteria, terms and procedures, as well as unpacking the different contexts related to the findings of each reviewed study. 71 relevant studies have been included in the systematic review processes. The search included any academic literature relating to the subject, written in English and published between 1990 and 2011. The factors resulting from the systematic review of relevant studies have been categorized into themes. These factors have then been discussed and identified, and the schools of thought, cultural and business contexts have been taken into consideration. 73 factors influencing SDO are identified in this research. Overall conclusions of the categorization and understanding of different factors of different themes are shown, discussed and illustrated in the last chapter. Some factors appeared in the reviewed studies more frequently than others, and have thus been classified as ‘very important factors’. They include leadership; employees' motivation, reward and satisfaction; satisfying (and excellent services for) customers; innovation; clear mission and vision; employees' involvement and participation, and HR development and activities. Other factors appeared less frequently, but are still considered important factors, while many factors appeared only once or twice in the reviewed studies and have therefore been classified as less important. The implications of the influence of the identified important factors, as well as their relationships and contexts, are discussed showing that for an organization to strive toward SDO, an integrated continuous implementation of at least all the very important factors is required. The theoretical contribution this research has made to the existing body of knowledge is that it is the first academic research to systematically search for and review the factors found by scholars of relevant studies to influence SDO which have not been identified before, providing a new and further understanding of the above mentioned factors. The term SDO (defined as the continuous and long-term development and success of organizations) is also being used and raised for the first time in respect of organizations in a general, rather than environmental context. The methodological contribution is the developed SR model mentioned above. The practical contribution is to provide leaders of different organizations with new and further understanding of the implications and relationships of the factors that influence SDO. Finally, further possible directions for future research (such as relationships between schools and factors or cultural specific studies) and research limitations (i.e. the above mentioned inclusion terms) have been indicated.