Spiritual sustainability management

Abstract

Since the first UN Conference on Sustainability in Stockholm (1972), sustainability management (henceforth abbreviated as SM) has had three focal areas: entrepreneurship, the environment and the social needs of present and future generations. Combining entrepreneurship with respect for socio-environmental priorities is not evident. Therefore not only rationality is necessary but also wisdom (Opdebeeck 2013). Moreover, a recent trend in management that combines sustainability and wisdom is exploring the potentially fruitful bridge between sustainability management and spirituality. In this paper, the nature of this kind of bridge building is further explored as it appears nowadays to be of central importance to sustainable entrepreneurship that searches for wisdom. During the last few decades Christian and Eastern sources of spirituality like Buddhism and Taoism have frequently proved capable of stimulating the development of SM theories. One can also wonder whether and how in the West, Jewish and Islamic sources of wisdom inspire sustainable entrepreneurship.