Adriane MacDonald

Dr. Adriane MacDonald is an Associate Professor of Management and Canada Research Chair in Governance and Sustainability at the John Molson School of Business (JMSB). Dr. MacDonald is a multi-disciplinary researcher who focuses on understanding why business, government, and non-profit organizations partner to address sustainability issues; how partners communicate and collaborate; and how partnerships can be structured and managed to achieve tangible sustainability and corporate social responsibility outcomes. 

Education

• PhD in Social and Ecological Sustainability, University of Waterloo
• Master of  Applied Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo
• Bachelor of Management, University of Lethbridge 

Overview

Dr. MacDonald's research explores new organizational forms, structures, processes, and job roles being created in response to sustainability concerns. A central focus of her research is understanding why business, government, and non-profit organizations partner to address sustainability issues; how partners communicate and collaborate; and how partnerships can be structured and managed to achieve tangible sustainability and corporate social responsibility outcomes. She is also interested in broader questions related to climate governance, business and sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. Dr. MacDonald is passionate about research projects that will have a meaningful and positive impact on solving real-world sustainability challenges. 

Dr. MacDonald currently has graduate student opportunities in sustainable business, collaborative governance, and climate change mitigation research. 

Areas of Interest

cities, climate action, climate governance, collaborative governance, cross-sector social partnerships, corporate social responsibility, multi-stakeholder partnerships, sustainable business, sustainable development

Current projects

• CRC in Governance and Sustainability Research Program 
• Towards a Carbon Governance Living Lab: Designing and Testing Local Decarbonization Governance Experiments
• Municipal Net-Zero Action Research Partnership (N-ZAP)
• The Dark Side of Cross-Sector Partnerships

Current Courses

MANA 369 Business and Sustainability 

Past Courses

Contemporary Business Thinking
Managing Responsibly in a Global Environment 
Management Policy and Strategy
Environmental Management
Strategies for Environment and Business

Select Publications

MacDonald, A., & Jahandideh, A. (2024). Multi-stakeholder climate action partnerships: What do we 'really' know about business partner contributions to partnership goals?. In Handbook on Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 91-105). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Stadtler, L., Seitanidi, M. M., Knight, H. H., Leigh, J., Clarke, A., Le Ber, M. J., Bogie, J., Hustad, O., Krasonikolakis, I., Brunese, P. S., Lioliou, E., MacDonald, A., Pinkse, J., & Sehgal, S. (2023). Cross-sector partnerships to address societal grand challenges: Systematizing differences in scholarly analysis. Journal of Management Studies.

Stuart-Edwards, A., MacDonald, A., & Ansari, M. A. (2023). Twenty Years of Research on Mindfulness at Work: A Structured Literature Review. Journal of Business Research, 169. 

Ordonez-Ponce, E., Clarke, A., & MacDonald, A. (2021). Business Contributions to the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals: From Local to Global Sustainability. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal. 60(5), 1174–1215.

MacDonald, A., Clarke, A., Ordonez-Ponce, E., Chai, Z., & Andreasen, J. (2020). Sustainability Managers: The Job Roles and Competencies of Building Sustainable Cities and Communities. Public Performance & Management Review. 

Sun, X., Clarke, A., & MacDonald, A. (2020). Implementing Community Sustainability Plans through Partnerships: Examining the Relationship between Partnership Structural Features and Climate Change Mitigation Outcomes. Sustainability. Special Issue on Collaboration for Sustainability.

MacDonald, A., Clarke, A., Huang, L., & Seitanidi, M.M. (2019). Partner Strategic Capabilities for Capturing Value from Sustainability-Focused Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships. Sustainability. (11) 3.

Clarke, A. & MacDonald, A. (2019). Outcomes to Partners in Multi-Stakeholder Cross-Sector Partnerships: A Resource-Based View. Business & Society. (58) 2. (Online first publication date: 2016). 

MacDonald, A., Clarke, A., & Huang, L. (2018). Multi-stakeholder Partnerships for Sustainability: Designing Decision-Making Processes for Partnership Capacity. Journal of Business Ethics. (160) 2.

Clarke, A., MacDonald, A., & Ordonez-Ponce, E. (2019). Implementing Community Sustainability Strategies through Cross-Sector Partnerships: Value Creation For and By Business. In H. Borland, A. Lindgreen, F. Moan, V. Ambrosini, B. P. Florencio & J. Vanhamme (Eds), Business Strategies for Sustainability: A Research Anthology, London: Routledge. 

MacDonald, A. Clarke, A., Huang, L., & Roseland, M. (2017). Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (SDG#17) as a Means of Achieving Sustainable Communities and Cities (SDG#11). W. Leal (Ed). World Symposium on Sustainability Science. NY: Springer Publishing Company.