The status quo of knowledge management and sustainability knowledge

Organizations that aspire to be economically viable as well as socially and environmentally responsible global citizens, need to understand what sustainability means and how to institutionalize its principles. This paper posits that some of the underlying reasons for slow progress are lack of full understanding of the required knowledge and its systemic nature, as well as potentially insufficient knowledge management processes. It proposes that sustainability knowledge learning should include three “DCA” steps: 1) What to know: identify which knowledge is needed (DEFINE); 2) How to learn : develop strategies to identify sources and learning strategies for the requisite sustainability knowledge (COLLECT); 3) How to use sustainability knowledge: develop knowledge management practices that enable absorption and institutionalization (ACT).