K Business Perceptions of Sustainability: A Psychological Examination of Theory and Practice

Abstract

The increasing levels of sustainability rhetoric emanating from the UK government and business organisations appear to indicate that the sustainability paradigm has been embraced by UK Business. The degree of this acceptance is examined through the analysis of the annual Britain’s Most Admired Companies (BMAC) survey conducted by the British Chartered Management Institute (CMI) between the periods 1994-2011 involving on average two hundred and thirty eight companies per survey. The analysis demonstrates that on every occasion the corporate social and environmental category has ranked last amongst corporate managements’ perceptions. These perceptions are evaluated through applying the lens of psychological sustainability and through the education and knowledge of corporate management where traditional financial and management paradigms still dominate. An exception to this status quo is the Co-Op Bank which has dominant sustainability credentials but which has been consistently ranked lower in the overall survey.