Truly sustainable or not? An exploratory assessment of sustainability capability of textile and apparel corporations in China from the moral responsibility perspective

Abstract Within the moral responsibility theory of corporate sustainability (MRCS) framework (Ha-Brookshire in J Bus Ethics, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2847-2), the study examined 86 sustainability reports from top performing textile and apparel companies in China to explore their perceptions and sustainability capability implications. Content analysis of their sustainability reports was conducted to analyze whether each company (a) perceives sustainability as a perfect duty or not, (b) has clear goals toward sustainability or not, and (c) has well-defined structures toward sustainability goals or not. Results show that 66 of the 86 reports described sustainability as a perfect duty to fulfill; 11 described as an imperfect duty, and 9 described no opinions about sustainability. Of the 66 reports, 19 explicitly showed clear goals and the evidence of organizational structures toward such goals, leading us to categorize them as truly sustainable corporations as Ha-Brookshire (2015) described. Of the 66, 43 lacked clear sustainability goals, leading us to categorize them as occasionally sustainable corporations as described by Ha-Brookshire (2015). Other firms were also categorized within the MRCS framework. Findings show a spectrum of Chinese textile and apparel companies’ sustainability capability from the moral responsibility perspective