Date of Award

2-16-2026

Thesis Type

Masters

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Faculty of Business and Economics

Department

Department of Accounting

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

This study investigates how environmental and social (E&S) strategies influence enterprise sustainability performance (SP), with a focus on the mediating roles of Environmental Management Control Systems (EMCS) and Social Management Control Systems (SMCS). Anchored in the Resource-Based View (RBV), the study conceptualizes E&S strategies, EMCS, and SMCS as internal organizational resources that support the implementation of sustainability-related strategic intent. Although Chinese manufacturing enterprises face increasing regulatory and societal expectations regarding environmental and social responsibilities, prior research has primarily examined the direct association between sustainability strategies and performance outcomes or has treated sustainability control systems as aggregated constructs, providing comparatively less empirical evidence on how environmental and social strategies are implemented through differentiated internal control mechanisms. To address this specific limitation, this study examines whether EMCS and SMCS, each consisting of belief, boundary, diagnostic, and interactive controls, mediate the relationships between E&S strategies and sustainability performance. Data were collected using convenience sampling through a structured questionnaire distributed in Chinese to 416 managers of manufacturing enterprises in Zhejiang Province, China. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to test both direct and mediating effects. The results indicate that environmental and social strategies are positively associated with sustainability performance and are also related to the adoption of EMCS and SMCS. Furthermore, EMCS and SMCS are positively associated with sustainability performance and function as partial mediators in the respective strategy–performance relationships. Rather than proposing new theoretical constructs, this study provides empirical evidence on the distinct roles of environmental and social management control systems in supporting sustainability strategy implementation. By focusing on manufacturing enterprises in China, the study adds context-specific evidence from an emerging economy setting, where empirical studies explicitly distinguishing environmental and social control mechanisms remain relatively limited, and offers practical insights for managers and policymakers seeking to improve internal alignment between E&S strategies and sustainability objectives.

Initial

khm

Additional Information

Dissertation (M.A.) – Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, 2026.

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