A firm level analysis of the effects of private initiative adoption for sustainability A case study of KLM Engineering & Maintenance

Abstract

In this study, the organisational change effects of private initiative adoption regarding sustainability are investigated on the internal level of the firm. Private initiatives are expected to cause organisational change effects, but these are rarely examined in the literature. On the basis of a case-study, this thesis examines five organisational change effects: (I) Increased transparency regarding the accessibility of information about sustainability (performance). (II) The development of a sustainability culture by effecting corporate values regarding sustainability e.g. social, environmental and economical. (III) Improved internal communication by providing tools for clear communication to raise awareness about the sustainability efforts of the firm and to engage with internal stakeholders. (IV) Organisational change effects regarding the engagement to various internal stakeholder groups to enable their contribution to corporate sustainability. Lastly, (V) changes in decision making by taking leadership and embedding sustainability in decision making. Overall, the evidence shows that private initiative adoption affects firms internally. This means that when firms commit to sustainability, private initiatives are often used as tool to embed sustainability values into the firm’s operations. Yet, whether the effects are observed depends on the efforts made by firms to internalise sustainability. Therefore, this study provides implications on how firms could benefit from private initiative adoption to increase corporate sustainability.