Sustainable development: Implications and definition for open sustainability

Abstract

This study deals with sustainable development from a triple bottom‐line perspective, including the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Specifically, this study investigates whether various sustainability factors are related to small businesses' intentions to exploit open sustainability, which is described as meeting sustainability challenges through the exploitation of internal and external initiatives. Empirical data were collected from 139 companies. The results show that some factors from all three sustainability dimensions affect companies' intentions to exploit open sustainability, while company size and operations type do not influence the use of open sustainability. As an emerging concept, the definition of open sustainability is presented.