Organizational Sustainable Development: A Structured Narrative Review of CSR, Sustainable HRM, and Business Model Practices

Abstract

Sustainable development has emerged as a strategic imperative for both public and private organizations, especially in a context characterized by resource scarcity, growing climate-related challenges, and rising societal expectations regarding transparency, accountability, and ethical responsibility. This article presents a narrative and integrative literature review on the implementation of sustainable development within organizational settings, drawing on recent academic contributions and established conceptual frameworks. The analysis is structured around three main dimensions. The first concerns the integration of sustainability principles into organizational vision, strategy, and governance practices, highlighting the extent to which sustainability becomes embedded in decision-making and long-term orientation. The second dimension focuses on contingency variables that shape implementation, including organizational size, industry sector, institutional environment, and cultural dynamics, all of which significantly influence the scope and form of sustainable initiatives. The third dimension examines the managerial tools and mechanisms mobilized to operationalize sustainability, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM), and the widely used Triple Bottom Line framework. Adopting a critical approach, the review underscores both the richness and fragmentation of existing studies, which often suffer from disciplinary silos and limited contextualization. It emphasizes the need to move beyond narrowly defined or purely normative perspectives in order to build more comprehensive, integrated, and context-sensitive approaches. Ultimately, the article calls for a renewed research agenda that can better support decision-makers in embedding sustainability at the core of organizational processes and performance management systems, thus reconciling economic viability with social equity and environmental stewardship.

Keywords: Organizational sustainable development; Literature review; CSR; Sustainable HRM; Triple Bottom Line.

JEL Classification: M14

Paper type: Narrative Review