Making sense of sustainability work: A narrative approach

Williams, T; Edwards, M; Angus-Leppan, T; Benn, S

Making sense of sustainability work: A narrative approach

Williams, T

Edwards, M

Angus-Leppan, T Benn, S

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Publisher:: SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Australian Journal of Management, 2021, 46, (4), pp. 740-760
Issue Date:: 2021-11-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Williams, T https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8372-4666
dc.contributor.author	Edwards, M https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3627-7314
dc.contributor.author	Angus-Leppan, T
dc.contributor.author	Benn, S https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5282-2255
dc.date.accessioned	2021-12-21T01:15:55Z
dc.date.available	2021-12-21T01:15:55Z
dc.date.issued	2021-11-01
dc.identifier.citation	Australian Journal of Management, 2021, 46, (4), pp. 740-760
dc.identifier.issn	0312-8962
dc.identifier.issn	1327-2020
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/152434
dc.description.abstract	Corporate sustainability is a priority for organisations, but the nature of the enabling intra-organisational activities, processes and managerial agency is not well understood. In this study, we examine the activity and agency of corporate sustainability managers through a narrative approach and the novel theoretical lens of ‘sustainability work’: purposeful and strategic activities to shape the social-symbolic context such that social and environmental outcomes are prioritised. Analysing how individuals across a range of diverse organisations and industries frame their activity, we identify three overlapping and co-occurring broad subsets of sustainability work: goal-directed, other-directed and self-directed. Through our notion of sustainability work, we contribute by recasting managerial agency in the enabling of sustainability as occurring in the social-symbolic realm and highlighting the implications in both theory and practice for the professionalisation of sustainability. JEL Classification: M10, M14
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
dc.relation.ispartof	Australian Journal of Management
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0312896220978447
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
dc.title	Making sense of sustainability work: A narrative approach
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	46
utslib.for	15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2021-12-21T01:15:54Z
pubs.issue	4
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	46
utslib.citation.issue	4

Abstract:

Corporate sustainability is a priority for organisations, but the nature of the enabling intra-organisational activities, processes and managerial agency is not well understood. In this study, we examine the activity and agency of corporate sustainability managers through a narrative approach and the novel theoretical lens of ‘sustainability work’: purposeful and strategic activities to shape the social-symbolic context such that social and environmental outcomes are prioritised. Analysing how individuals across a range of diverse organisations and industries frame their activity, we identify three overlapping and co-occurring broad subsets of sustainability work: goal-directed, other-directed and self-directed. Through our notion of sustainability work, we contribute by recasting managerial agency in the enabling of sustainability as occurring in the social-symbolic realm and highlighting the implications in both theory and practice for the professionalisation of sustainability. JEL Classification: M10, M14

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/152434