Analysing the Differences in Perception of Business Sustainability in the Food Retail Sector

Abstract

Business sustainability performance differs greatly among companies and literature indicates that a possible explanation for this may be the differences that exist in the perception of business sustainability. While it is known that there is a relation between perception of business sustainability and business sustainability performance, further insight into how this perception varies with performance is needed. The research question of this study is therefore how does the business sustainability performance of companies vary with their perception of business sustainability? For this purpose, this study defines a holistic approach to business sustainability, which is characteristic for a sophisticated business sustainability performance, and develops the business sustainability performance framework. This framework allows differentiating four different business sustainability performance levels and is applied to the Dutch food retail sector. Eventually, five retailers are selected that vary in their business sustainability performance. By conducting in total 12 interviews at these retailers with sustainability managers as well as store managers, the food retailers’ perception of business sustainability is investigated. To better understand what determines the business sustainability perception, cognitive-affective mapping is applied – a tool to illustrate concepts and beliefs along with their emotional values as well as the relations between these concepts and beliefs. This study reveals that the business sustainability perception of a food retailer with a sophisticated business sustainability performance is more complex than the perception of those with a lower business sustainability performance. This complexity is determined by the number of concepts and beliefs, their mutual relations, and by the attached emotional values that together constitute the perception of business sustainability. The results show furthermore that commitment – especially of a company's decision-makers – is an essential part of becoming more sustainable as an organisation. Besides studying different industries, future research should therefore focus on decision-makers' commitment and individual perception of business sustainability as well as the underlying values, concepts, and believes.