Assessing the Effect of the Economy for the Common Good System on Business Performance

Abstract

Extant literature has pointed to organizational hybridity to lever sustainable business transformation. Moreover, some authors hold that there is a possible trade-off between sustainability and performance. However, there is still little empirical evidence on the impact that such sustainability-driven hybridization systems have on performance. Thus, the present study’s main goal is to fill this gap by providing empirical evidence on the impact of the implementation of the Economy for the Common Good, as a sustainability-driven organizational system, on business performance. To do so, the authors relied on a sample of 206 businesses from five European countries. Then, the authors followed a quantitative research approach based on a hierarchical regression analysis that allowed them to test for linear, curvilinear, and moderating effects. The authors found a positive relationship between the implementation of a sustainability-driven hybridization system and firm performance. Besides, they identified some curvilinear effects pointing to the existence of a “too much of a good thing” effect, along with some moderating effects derived from organizational size.

Keywords

• sustainable business model innovation
• hybridization systems
• corporate sustainability
• SDGs
• economy for the common good
• performance