From Proxies to System State: Defining Sustainability Management Against Symbolic Progress

ABSTRACT Sustainability in management is often measured through scores, ratings, and disclosure narratives that can reward symbolic progress while leaving underlying social‐ecological conditions unchanged. This perspective paper offers a definition of Sustainability Management as how organizations plan, organize, lead, and control (four management functions) value creation so that it remains within ecological limits and meets social foundations over time. It specifies four premises for valid sustainability claims: norm‐boundedness, multi‐level integration, cross‐domain integration, and systems‐dynamic governance. Building on these premises, the paper develops the Limits‐Levels‐Domains‐States (LLDS) diagnostic, which distinguishes low‐ from high‐depth sustainability practice and clarifies what stronger sustainability management should require. The diagnostic is illustrated through three regulatory enforcement cases in manufacturing, financial services, and fashion, using 5 years of corporate disclosures preceding externally validated failures. The paper contributes an evaluative standard for sustainability management and a research agenda for testing norm‐to‐limit‐to‐state logics in ESG‐sensitive sectors.