Operationalising Sufficiency in an Organisational Context: A Systematic Literature Review
Shahrokh Nikou (TU Delft - Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior)
H.J. Hultink (TU Delft - Design, Organisation and Strategy)
Nancy M P. Bocken (Maastricht University)
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Abstract
Efficiency- led sustainability is important but often fails to deliver absolute reductions in resource use, leaving organisations ex- posed to rebound effects. What remains underexplored is how sufficiency, the strategic limitation of consumption and resource use, is operationalised within organisational contexts. We address this gap through a systematic review of 70 peer- reviewed studies, using the Structure- Conduct- Performance (SCP) framework to connect enabling conditions, organisational practices and sustainability performance. We identify eight thematic clusters reflecting how sufficiency is enacted across domains such as governance and policy, organisational practices, social norms and infrastructural systems. Building on these, we develop a typology of five strategic types through which organisations operationalise sufficiency. This paper (1) adds a system- level per- spective that bridges structural, strategic and performance domains; (2) extends the SCP framework as a theory- building lens to expose misalignments that hinder sufficiency transitions; and (3) highlights tensions that challenge dominant assumptions in sustainability- oriented organisational strategy.
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