Do we have to choose between economic or environmental performance? The case of the ceramic industry cluster

Abstract

A growing number of academic studies are focusing on firms' sustainability orientation, organizational resilience, and social capital. A key challenge facing companies today is how to maintain or improve economic performance while becoming more sustainable. This research relates sustainability orientation, organizational resilience, and social capital to economic and environmental performance in the ceramic industry cluster of Castellón, Spain. It also analyzes the mediating effect of organizational resilience on the relationship between social capital and both types of performance. The results show that sustainability orientation is linked to environmental performance, while social capital and organizational resilience are linked to economic performance. The results of the analysis of the mediating effect of organizational resilience differ depending on the type of performance. These findings thus suggest that companies should decide what kind of results they want to prioritize in order to direct their efforts at a strategic level, focusing on organizational resilience and social capital if they want to achieve better economic results and on sustainability orientation if they want to improve their environmental performance. This research contributes to the academic literature on environmental and sustainability issues.