The impact of institutional environment on corporate sustainability of Russia’s companies

Growing importance of social and environmental issues encourage business, society, and state to combine their efforts in implementing the sustainable development agenda. The purpose of this study is to identify institutional determinants that influence Russian companies’ corporate sustainability. The object of the empirical study is big Russian companies that implement sustainable practices of various scales and diversity. The sample covers 39 companies; the data obtained are analyzed using the qualitative comparative analysis method and fuzzy sets. The findings reveal the differences in pressure of the institutional environment components depending on company’s level of internationalization. Significance of pressure from different types of institutions differs for each component of corporate sustainability. For implementing sustainable development practices by companies operating in domestic market, institutional drivers are regulative and normative components of the institutional environment, while for companies operating in foreign markets, all components of the institutional environment will be important, although pressure of normative component will differ among such companies. Ecological and social components of corporate sustainability are mainly stimulated by employee engagement in relevant practices, while governance component is mainly determined by government pressure as a normative component of institutional environment. The findings will allow to develop optimal management solutions to stimulate corporate sustainability considering the geographical scope of company’s activities, and to combine the efforts of business, society, and state in strengthening the national ESG-agenda.

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