Sanne Frandsen
Assistant head Organization, Department of Business Administration
Adopting sustainability in the organization: Managing processes of productive loose coupling towards internal legitimacy
Author
Summary, in English
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between sustainability adoption and internal legitimacy construction.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is designed as a critical inquiry into existing research and practice on sustainability adoption, illustrated by two corporate vignettes.
Findings – Prior studies tend to assume that awareness raising is a sufficient means to create employee commitment and support for corporate sustainability programs, while empirical observations indicate that managerial disregard of conflicting interpretations of sustainability may result in the illegitimacy of such programs.
Originality/value – The authors suggest that a loosely coupled approach to sustainability adoption is a productive way to understand internal legitimacy construction, as it appreciates complexity and polyphony.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is designed as a critical inquiry into existing research and practice on sustainability adoption, illustrated by two corporate vignettes.
Findings – Prior studies tend to assume that awareness raising is a sufficient means to create employee commitment and support for corporate sustainability programs, while empirical observations indicate that managerial disregard of conflicting interpretations of sustainability may result in the illegitimacy of such programs.
Originality/value – The authors suggest that a loosely coupled approach to sustainability adoption is a productive way to understand internal legitimacy construction, as it appreciates complexity and polyphony.
Publishing year
2013
Language
English
Pages
236-264
Publication/Series
Journal of Management Development
Volume
32
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- Loosely coupled systems.
- Employees
- Implementation
- Internal legitimacy
- Sustainability
- Organizational culture
- Employees behaviour
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0262-1711