| Abstract |
Researchers and organizations have been restless in their efforts to explain sustainability and adopt models that enable more sustainable practices. The wide latitude of the sustainability concept, recognized in multiple contexts, motivated this research aimed at understanding meanings of underlying patterns and logics in the use of the terms 'sustainability' and 'sustainable'. The purpose has been to find evidence that could support the argument of whether the apparent plurality of sustainability could be perhaps more a form of arbitrariness. A systematic search method was used to review a significant body of literature, using objective and subjective analysis, also intending to reduce arbitrariness and subjectivity in the research method. The research analysed the top published articles on sustainability, or sustainable-X (X for types of development), in relation to eight development sectors (Urban, Energy, Transports, Land use, Agriculture, Forest, Ocean, Supply chain) and five perspectives (Business, Corporate, Community, Science, Education). Content analyses was used to explore characteristics of sustainability in almost 1000 academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals between 2011 and 2018, and observations were categorized. This paper shares the main results of this research. The complexity of the concept is evident in the results achieved, revealing a significant plurality, but also dispersion in understandings and some arbitrariness in its use. Findings also reveal increasing signs of understanding sustainability and sustainable-X as a complex and integrative concept which cannot be oversimplified, however needs to be made as concrete and actionable as possible. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |