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Review
. 2022;17(6):2615-2630.
doi: 10.1007/s11625-022-01204-0. Epub 2022 Aug 20.

Barriers to institutional social sustainability

Walter Leal Filho  1   2 , Amanda Lange Salvia  3 , Claudio Ruy Portela Vasconcelos  4   5 , Rosley Anholon  6 , Izabela Simon Rampasso  7 , João Henrique Paulino Pires Eustachio  8 , Olena Liakh  9 , Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis  10 , Raquel Cementina Olpoc  11 , Joseph Bandanaa  12 , Yusuf A Aina  13   14 , Regine Lolekola Lukina  15 , Ayyoob Sharifi  16
Affiliations
Review

Barriers to institutional social sustainability

Walter Leal Filho et al. Sustain Sci. 2022.

Abstract

Social sustainability is a work field characterised by an emphasis on social aspects, e.g. equity, ethics, health, gender balance, or empowerment, within a broader sustainability context. Although the concept seems to be reasonably well established and deemed worthy of pursuing, some obstacles prevent its wide dissemination. Through a bibliometric analysis focusing on the literature on social sustainability at institutions, with a focus on companies, this paper aims to investigate and describe some of the barriers associated with social sustainability implementation. Apart from identifying that sustainability reporting, environmental disclosure and financial performance play a central role in successfully achieving social sustainability, in the context of which gender-related issues seem more tangential, the results indicated some solutions commonly reported for overcoming barriers and obstacles to a company's social sustainability implementation within different sectors. These solutions have to do, among many other factors addressed in this study, with strengthening communication transparency and trust, contributing to awareness, using technology to document and promote social sustainability. Thus, empowering organizations and citizens, recognized as essential factors to social development, and addressing the challenges in a multi-dimensional way.

Keywords: Challenges; Difficulties; Social dimension; Sustainable development.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Components and dynamics of corporate social sustainability and innovation. Source: Adapted from Ajmal et al. (2018) and Popa and Salanță (2015)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Most commonly recognised categories intervening in social sustainability
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The term co-occurrence analysis (including all studies related to social sustainability at companies)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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