Revisiting Sustainability Management Theory from a Critical Paradigm
A Qualitative Analysis of Contemporary Organizational Discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55606/ijemr.v5i2.746Keywords:
Critical Paradigm, Ecological Justice, Management Theory Development, Social, Sustainability ManagementAbstract
of sustainability management theory across organizational contexts. Nevertheless, much of this development remains dominated by instrumental and managerial orientations that conceptualize sustainability primarily as a strategic mechanism to enhance efficiency, legitimacy, and competitive advantage. This study aims to critically examine the evolution of sustainability management theory through a critical paradigm, focusing on its underlying assumptions, power relations, and transformative capacity. This research adopts a qualitative and interpretive approach through a critical literature analysis of peer-reviewed academic publications on sustainability management published between 2019 and 2025. Data were collected using systematic document analysis and examined through thematic coding to identify dominant narratives and marginalized perspectives within contemporary sustainability discourse. Analytical rigor was strengthened through conceptual triangulation across management, sustainability, and critical social theory literature. The findings indicate that mainstream sustainability management theory emphasizes measurable outcomes, standardized reporting, and market-based logic, often neglecting ethical reflexivity, social justice, and ecological limits. While critical perspectives advocating organizational responsibility, stakeholder inclusion, and ecological resilience are emerging, they remain underrepresented within dominant theoretical frameworks. This study contributes to sustainability management scholarship by highlighting the limitations of instrumental approaches and emphasizing the importance of a critical paradigm in advancing more reflexive, inclusive, and transformative sustainability theories.
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