Operationalising Sufficiency in an Organisational Context: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT Efficiency‐led sustainability is important but often fails to deliver absolute reductions in resource use, leaving organisations exposed 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 perspective 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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Publication Details

Journal
Business Strategy and the Environment
Published
2025-11-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70347
Primary Topic
Energy Efficiency and Management
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Operationalising Sufficiency in an Organisational Context: A Systematic Literature Review

Nancy M. P. Bocken, Shahrokh Nikou, Erik Jan Hultink
Business Strategy and the Environment
Energy Efficiency and Management
article

Operationalising Sufficiency in an Organisational Context: A Systematic Literature Review

Nancy M. P. Bocken, Shahrokh Nikou, Erik Jan Hultink
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Efficiency‐led sustainability is important but often fails to deliver absolute reductions in resource use, leaving organisations exposed 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 perspective 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.

Business Strategy and the EnvironmentVol. 35(3)
Maastricht School of Management (NL), Maastricht University (NL), Delft University of Technology (NL)
Openalex Percentile: Top 76%
Energy Efficiency and Management
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