New award recognizes global research providing sustainability solutions

The Network for Business Sustainability (NBS) and the Organizations and the Natural Environment (ONE) Division of the Academy of Management sponsored the award. NBS provides research-based resources for managers. ONE is a professional organization for sustainability researchers. Professor Delmas and her collaborator Sanja Pekovic won the Research Impact on Practice Award which recognizes sustainability research that has important implications for managers and other practitioners. This award seeks to celebrate and share research that has the opportunity to change business. Delmas is a faculty member at UCLA and Pekovic is based at University Paris-Dauphine.

Delmas and Pekovic’s research focused on Environmental Management Systems (EMS). Their study revealed that EMS increases employee productivity by 16%. EMS implementation increases productivity because it results in more employee training and connections across the company, Delmas and Pekovic found. These activities, in turn, increase employee engagement and commitment. When the research produced this result, Professor Delmas knew it was information business executives needed. “Sustainability requires collaboration by managers and researchers. Managers can identify important problems for research, and academic researchers can provide the answers,” said Tima Bansal, Executive Director of NBS.

Read the full award announcement by Jessica Kilcoyne.