سیاست ها و شیوه های پایدار در سازمان های بخش دولتی: مورد اداره دولتی مرکزی پرتغال Sustainability policies and practices in public sector organisations: The case of the Portuguese Central Public Administration

1. Introduction The adoption of sustainability policies and practices in organisations is a rising trend, in particular in private organisations. Public Sector Organisations (PSOs) are also following this trend but in a slower rhythm, as discussed by Ramos et al. (2007b), Lundberg et al. (2009), Williams et al. (2011) and Myhre et al. (2013). This passive role of public organisations can be explained by the fact reported by Guthrie et al. (2010), that many of these methodologies have been developed in the private sector. These authors also highlight that sustainability practices for public services have been neglected, being left out of the investigation scope, despite a significant amount of work conducted on related organisations, including public universities (Lozano et al., 2017; Ramos et al., 2015). In many cases, these are sate-owned, but due to its particularities and features, are not often considered for the scope of this type of research. Furthermore, as underlined by Welford et al. (1998), it is frequently assumed that the services sector, which is the main focus of PSOs, has less environmental impacts than private sector organisations. Nevertheless, the management and performance of PSOs are increasingly being evaluated according to economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability (Enticott and Walker, 2008), which is related with the integration of sustainability principles and practices into their operations and activities (Byrch et al., 2007). This growing concern with sustainability in the management and operations of PSOs led to the development of new approaches and methods that entities can use to assess their sustainability profile (Guthrie et al., 2010; Coutinho et al., 2018). Sustainability transitions perspectives emphasize the need of the public sector to tailor policies towards technological innovation and be institutionally redesigned (Haley, 2017). So, the public sector has begun to realise that it is necessary to change the way they are operating, in order to include the sustainability aspects within the operations of the organisations (Ramos et al., 2007b). Besides a service provider, the public sector is a meaningful employer and consumer of resources, which imposes an important role in achieving the goals and objectives associated with sustainable development (GRI, 2005). This sector should not only guarantee the adequate management of public resources and installations, but also ensure to fulfil stakeholders expectations, promote public interest, promote the enrolment of stakeholders, engage deeper public commitment, and enhance transparency in public management (GRI 2005; GarcíaSánchez et al. 2013). In addition, within the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030, besides limited obligations of the governments, the means of the goals implementations must be upgraded significantly (Spangenberg, 2016). Despite some theoretical and empirical research initiatives related to the adoption of environmental and sustainability principles, approaches and practices by PSOs (e.g. Griffiths, 2003, Singh and Mansour-Nahra 2006; Zutshi et al., 2008, Hoque and Adams, 2011; Williams et al. 2011, García-Sánchez et al. 2013; Rainville, 2017), the majority are primarily focused upon one main single practice or issue such as Environmental Management Systems (EMS), quality management systems, sustainability reports, the Balanced Scorecard or a core area of sustainability, such as environment related issues, as discussed by Nogueiro and Ramos (2014). Unlike what happens in the private sector (Lawrence et al., 2006, Collins et al., 2007; Ameer and Othman, 2012; ), there is a lack of research on initiatives that offer a broader and integrated sustainability profile of policies and practices that are being implemented by PSOs for performance management of their activities and operations.