The Role of Focal Companies in Driving Sustainability Performance in the Oil and Gas Sector: the case of Oman

Abstract

Sustainability and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has received increased attention from both practitioners and academia in recent years emerging in highlighting the significance of the sustainability practices across industries to sustain its licence to operate. Another transformative force on the sustainability agenda is the growing authority of regulators, institutions and advocates for a more sustainable corporate behaviour. However, there is deficient knowledge about the adaptations of the sustainability practices, especially in developing economies and the role of focal companies in driving the sustainable performance agenda. This thesis prolongs our knowledge by exploring and theorising the adaptation of the sustainability agenda and uses the literature to construct a conceptual framework through which empirically investigate what the pressures and barriers are and how focal companies in the oil and gas companies respond to institutional and stakeholders’ pressures. The adopted internal strategies to mitigate such pressure were examined in a developing economy context as previous sustainability and supply chain management literature has mostly focused on the developed world and assumed transferable finding to emerging economies regardless of its context which warrants scholarly attention. The thesis is embedded in the interpretive paradigm and followed a qualitative approach using in-depth semi-structured interviews with executives, managers and practitioners working within the oil and gas industry of Oman. The study revealed an interplay between the institutional stakeholders’ pressure, externally and internally, and the strategies adopted by focal companies to manage a sustainable performance within companies and across supply chain and communities. It provides the literature with additional insights into the role of institutions, standards and stakeholders to incorporate sustainability practices. The research findings render valuable insights for managers in the extractive industry or any other industries operating in developing economies seeking to adopt sustainability practices and provide policy insights for professional organisations, regulators, and legislators to promote sustainability further. The overall research proposes theoretical, methodical as well as the practical contribution of the sustainability performance phenomenon within the understudied context of Oman which produced a new insight at the intersection of sustainability and performance in supply chain management.