Positioning and Planning of Sustainability Initiatives: An Abstract

Abstract

Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain something at a certain level. As such, the Brundtland report defined sustainable development as that: “… which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs…” (WCED 1987, p. 3). Sustainability is commonly considered in relation to three aspects, namely, economic, environmental, and social (Carter and Rogers 2008).

The research objective is to examine the logic and differentiators of organizational positioning and sustainability planning initiatives between private and public organizations in the healthcare industry.

In highlighting the lack of sustainability initiatives that encompass all three aspects (social, economic, environmental), the aspects themselves are intertwined (Eriksson 2014). Sustainability is an issue for the entire network of organizations (Wolf 2011). Attempts have been made to adapt such an approach (Wagner and Svensson 2014), but considering all aspects of sustainability across networks of organizations is rare (Holton et al. 2010).

It is important to consider that being sustainable is partly a sliding scale and partly a binary state. An organization can be more sustainable, without actually being sustainable and without starting from an unsustainable state (Eriksson and Svensson 2016).

This study applies an inductive approach based on in-depth interviews with executives from a selection of private hospitals across Spain. The selection of hospitals for study was evaluated by means of judgmental sampling (Fischhoff and Bar-Hillel 1982). A non-probabilistic technique was used, because sustainability initiatives are not widespread in Spanish hospitals.

This study contributes to determining the logic of organizational positioning and planning of sustainability initiatives in private and public organizations in the healthcare industry. It also describes and explains the organizational reasoning that determines the differences between public and private hospitals, with respect to the performance initiatives and actions of sustainability, an aspect that has not been addressed in existing theory and previous studies.

Public hospitals apply a top-down logic to position and plan sustainability initiatives, while private ones apply a bottom-up logic. The positioning of sustainability initiatives in public hospitals is mandatory, based on a long-term vision and being integrated into the public healthcare system. Those of private hospitals are optional, based on a short-term vision, isolated, and not integrated with others in the healthcare system. Furthermore, the planning of sustainability initiatives in public hospitals is structured and continuous, while they are improvised and aleatory in private hospitals.