April 22 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the world’s first major environmental movement. The AOM research and Insights below highlight the 2020 Earth Day theme of climate action and the close relationship between organizations and the environment.

Strong Environmental Rules Help the Planet AND Companies

Many people are demanding mandatory rules to counter climate change. Many others say strong regulations rules hurt companies’ finances and flexibility.

But it’s not an either or situation, according to an Academy of Management Annals article that shows mandatory regulations can help the environment without hurting companies’ ability to compete.

Bringing the Great Outdoors Inside Workplaces

To boost employee well-being, some of the world’s most influential companies are using natural designs and even bringing nature into their offices, according to an Academy of Management Review article.

Three Ways to Sell Green Companies without Selling Out

Entrepreneurs can take steps to help ensure their social missions endure after selling their green companies, according to an Academy of Management Perspectives article.

“Selling the company doesn’t have to mean abandoning the sustainable mission,” according to one of the authors.

• Infographic: Growth and Change in the Natural and Organics Product Industry
• Video: Three Ways to Sell Green Companies without Selling Out
• Video: Overview of A Structuration View of Sustainable Entrepreneurship

How Nonprofits and Companies Help Build Sustainable Cities

Developing sustainable cities is the key to solving many of the United Nations’ 2030 goals about climate change, poverty, and inequality, according to an Academy of Management Discoveries article.

“The world is becoming increasingly urban. More and more people are moving to cities,” explained one of the authors.

• Infographic: Why we need Sustainable Cities
• Video: Localizing Sustainable Development Goals: Nonprofit Density and City Sustainability
• Video: How Nonprofits and Companies Help Build Sustainable Cities

Why Companies Cannot Lead the Fight against Climate Change

The primary goal of corporations—maximizing profits—is just one factor that prevents companies from leading the fight against climate change, according to an Academy of Management Journal article.

• Video: An Inconvenient Truth: How Organizations Translate Climate Change into Business as Usual

How Environmental Certification Masked Rape and Pollution

Researchers reveal how a logging company, an international forestry certifying agency, and a South American government enabled socially irresponsible practices that included allegations of gang rape, illegal mining, and pollution, in the 2017 Best Article in Academy of Management Discoveries.

• Infographic: How Environmental Certification Masked Rape and Polution
• Video: Decoupling Rape

When a Bad Reputation Can Be Good for Firms

When it comes to making mistakes, organizations with bad reputations often get a pass from journalists, according to an Academy of Management Journal article.

And those mistakes are not minor slipups, but major oil spills.

Climate-proofing management research

Climate change is happening now, as is evident in the steady procession of record-breaking hurricanes, floods, droughts and firestorms. AOM Scholars suggest that management scholars engage in interpretative and implicatory denial by promoting a continuation of economic growth (implicatory denial), and by translating climate change into an issue that fits with the dominant paradigm of corporate capitalism (interpretative denial).