Analyzing management preferences for sustainability : Toward a new framework

This paper identifies three major gaps in the debate on sustainable management behavior. It explores, first, the relevance of a person's understanding of sustainability and, second, the importance and role he or she attributes to sustainability with regard to management issues (here referred to as "sustainability rationales") in order to explain preferences for specific management practices. Third, this paper considers the importance of socio-cultural contexts, which play a major role in determining value systems, as well as of the connection between individual values and management preferences for sustainability. Introducing a framework to explore all of these relations, this paper contributes to the emerging discourse on responsible leadership. Potential implications for further research are discussed.