The Influence of Social Networks on a Company's Adoption of Sustainabiltiy Initiatives

摘要

Sustainability has increasingly attracted attention from industry and academia. Marketing researchers have examined sustainability from different aspects such as its impact on consumer preference (Luchs et al. 2010), the influence of stakeholder on sustainability practices (Sharma and Hen-riques 2005), corporate social responsibility (Brown and Dacin 1997), and corporate citizenship (Maignan et al. 1999). The above literature, however, does not incorporate the social network aspect of adopting sustainability initiatives. Legitimacy theory has argued the power of social network in influencing a firm's decision as articulated by Reverte (2009; p. 353), "businesses are bound by the social contract in which the firms agree to perform various socially desired actions in return for approval of their objectives and other rewards, and this ultimately guarantees their continued existence." Engaging in and reporting sustainability activities can be considered as a symbolic impression that a company is sending to internal and external stakeholders (Neu et al., 1998). At the same time, well-known companies with established reputation at stake are more active in practicing corporate social responsibly as they have more reasons to justify its value to the society (Jahdi and Acikdilli, 2009; Branco and Rodrigues, 2006; Reverte, 2009). While extant theory has shown the indispensable role of social networks in a firm's decision making, little is known about how business networking affects a company's adoption of sustainability practice. The lack of deeper understanding of the role played by social networks in the context of sustainability adoption encour- ages this research. The study attempts to explore whether a social network, specifically a business network, influences a company's social responsible and sustainable practices. More specifically, this study extends the current literature of sustainability by addressing the following research questions: (1) How does a social network facilitate a company's decisions on sustainability initiatives (e.g., acquiring sustainability certificate)? (2) Does the business density of a region moderate the impact of social networks on sustainability adoption decisions? High business density means there is a lot of businesses in a region. (3) What are the marketing related factors that influence a company's adoption of sustainability initiatives?