Background: Awareness on climate change and sustainability have increased rapidly in the past decades. Companies are expected to implement sustainability into their operations and disclose information on their sustainability operations. These expectations can be seen as external push factors resulting from various sources, including institutional requirements, such as EU-directives, and societal stakeholders, such as local communities and customers. Large firms in Europe will be required to report on their sustainability measures and operations while experiencing pushes from all the parties affected by or affecting the companies’ operations. The effect of these push factors shapes the sustainability implementation in service firms and expose the company to internal resistances in adapting sustainability as a core part of the company. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of sustainability implementation in service firms that results from a complex matrix of constantly evolving external forces. Method: This study is a qualitative study with a deductive reasoning. Data was collected by holding semi-structured interviews and conducting a thematic analysis based on the result. A conceptual framework was developed to present the linkages between the external push factors investigated. Conclusion: The study contributes to the understanding of the effects of the various external forces that shape the operations of companies. The findings highlight the impact of education and onboarding in awareness on internal sustainable development. The push from stakeholders can be seen through collaborations and engagements with all parties affected. As the operations of the companies are strongly shaped by current regulations, internal resistances arise from uncertainty and concerns of resources being misallocated leading to companies overlooking important areas of sustainable development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hj-64618 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Braches, Berber Braches, Malka, Stella |
| Publisher | Jönköping University, Internationella Handelshögskolan |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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