Sustainability in Multinational Companies: The Alignment Between Subsidiaries and Headquarters

Based on institutional theory, this paper aims at understanding what is the impact of multinational companies’ (MNCs) internal and external institutional environments on the alignment between subsidiaries and headquarter intentions about Corporate Sustainability (CS). With a quantitative study focusing on the hotel industry, with primary data collected in 19 countries, we assess the impact that internal and external institutional pressures have on the alignment. In doing so, we contribute to the debate about the transfer of sustainability practices within MNCs, highlighting organizational and environmental conditions that ease the spread of sustainability within multinational organizations, and the effective value that their CS policies have on the effective implementation of such practices.