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Organizational Change: Over-Psychologized and Under-Socialized?
Edited by Slawomir Magala
Introduction
What motivates companies to embrace sustainability? Moreover, why should they, given that such measures are usually seen to lead to escalating costs ([24] Lanoie and Tanguay, 2000)? Regulation, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda, economic instruments and enhanced efficiency emerge as the key drivers in such a change ([4] Balabanis et al. , 1998; [5] Bansal and Roth, 2000). Such measures tend to result in the progressive greening of organisations rather than a big bang move towards global sustainability ([21] Hart and Milstein, 1999). Global sustainability requires creative destruction, based on [37] Schumpeter's (1961) view of the way that innovative newcomers unseat incumbent firms and create what [21] Hart and Milstein (1999, p. 26) call "new lenses on the global market". [37] Schumpeter (1961) doubted whether large incumbent corporations would take up the challenges and opportunities presented by such creative destruction and [21] Hart and Milstein (1999, p. 25) therefore predict that entrepreneurs will consider sustainable development as, "one of the biggest business opportunities in the history of commerce".
Such entrepreneurs have moved away from an obsession with the single issue of environmentalism ([30] Meadows, 1994), and the desire to change the world on the part of these innovative newcomers embraces a holy trinity of social, environmental and economic values ([31] Menon and Menon, 1997). That there is no common terminology for this particular breed of entrepreneur is indicative of the lack of research into sustainable organisations. [22] Isaak (1997, p. 85) uses the term "ecopreneur" defining an ecopreneurial organisation as one that is a "system-transforming, socially committed ... break-through venture". The word ecopreneur is therefore used in this paper to represent the triple drivers of these individuals: environmental, social and economic.
[38] Seelos and Mair (2004) suggest that the interfaces between social entrepreneurship, business's CSR efforts and public institutions could be a potent way of supporting sustainable development. [9] Carroll (1997) meanwhile writes that most industries start off looking like a social movement, populated by individuals with a vision of better future rather than of hefty profits. Could the interfaces proposed by [38] Seelos and Mair (2004) indicate a nascent micro-industry of the type described by Carroll, bringing [21] Hart and Milstein's (1999, p....