Täsmäratkaisuja kestävään tulevaisuuteen : suosituksia planetaarisen hyvinvoinnin tukemiseen poliittisessa ohjelmatyössä

Peer reviewed

Työntekijät vastuullisuuden sidosryhmänä : monimerkityksellisyys ja vastuullisuusviestinnän haasteet

Employee Sensemaking on the Importance of Sustainability Reporting in Sustainability Identity Change

This study examines employee sensemaking processes in order to understand the role of sustainability reporting in organizational identity change. Through an analysis of 52 interviews with employees in two Finnish companies we develop sensemaking frames for understanding the role of sustainability reporting in organizational identity change. The three sensemaking frames are individualistic, relational and decoupled. Each of these sensemaking frames differs in stakeholder orientation. They indicate that sensemaking influences the interpretation of how important sustainability reporting is for organizational identity change towards sustainability. The study showed how the individualistic and r…

Tulevaisuuskuvat : merkitykset, roolit ja käyttötavat tulevaisuudentutkimuksessa

Tulevaisuuskuva on tulevaisuudentutkimuksen keskeinen käsite. Yksinkertaistettuna se tarkoittaa ihmisen tai yhteisön kuvamaista ajatuskokonaisuutta tulevaisuudesta. Tulevaisuuskuva voi kuvata millaista tulevaisuutta tahansa: tulevaisuus voi olla kaukainen tai läheinen, mahdollinen tai mahdoton, toivottu tai epätoivottu, todennäköinen tai epätodennäköinen. Tavoitteenamme on tässä artikkelissa kuvata käsitteen syntyhistoriaa sekä empiirisiä sovelluksia. Artikkelin johdantoluvussa määrittelemme tulevaisuuskuvan käsitteen lyhyesti ja avaamme sen roolia tulevaisuudentutkimuksessa. Toisessa luvussa perehdymme tarkemmin erilaisiin tulevaisuuskuvan määritelmiin. Kolmannessa luvussa tutustumme erila…

Organisational Drivers and Challenges in Circular Economy Implementation : An Issue Life Cycle Approach

Business is a significant cause of various global sustainability challenges addressed by the Circular Economy (CE), making companies instrumental in the transition from a linear economic model to a circular one. While drivers and challenges in corporate CE implementation have been researched on an organisational level, a more detailed understanding is needed regarding their contextual nature and interplay with the evolution of CE implementation in a company. Utilising issue life cycle theory, this study contributes to the literature on CE implementation in business by displaying differences in corporate CE implementation drivers and challenges, relating to the time since starting, and the …

Rationality, experiences or identity work? Sensemaking of emotionally tense experiences of organizational sustainability

Purpose Although emotional tensions related to organizational sustainability have been identified, little is known about how employees aim to resolve such situations. This study aims to explore how employees use sensemaking to resolve emotionally tense situations concerning organizational sustainability. Design/methodology/approach The authors studied a case in which, while employees attached positive emotions to organizational sustainability, external stakeholders viewed it negatively. Specifically, the study analyzed how employees used sensemaking to resolve such tense experiences and how this sensemaking eventually influenced their actions. To this end, the authors interviewed 25 employ…

Vastuullisuusarvot suomalaisten tekstiiliyritysten tarinoissa

Textile industry causes significant negative environmental and social impacts. Sustainability in the industry has lately yielded more and more research interest, however, sustainability communication is underresearched area. In this paper, we will focus on sustainability communications in the Finnish textile industry through the stories of companies in their webpages. Storytelling has traditionally been a mode of transmitting, producing and reproducing the culture. Stories produce a structure in the reality, explain phenomena and concretize abstract concepts. In this research, we approach the stories as rhetorical devises, which address, attract and connect the reader to the company behind …

Images of the future for a circular economy : The case of Finland

A transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE) is one of the key solutions to the sustainability crisis. A CE requires new mental models and insights, especially of a desirable future towards which to move. A CE aims at making better use of resources and jointly considers economic, environmental and social sustainability aspects in the long run. The objective of this study is to develop alternative images of the future for CE in Finland in 2050. The study was performed using qualitative research methods and covers extensive data from 61 interviews with experts. We analysed the data using qualitative content analysis. Four alternative images of the future were generated: A circular su…

Creating futures images for sustainable cruise ships : insights on collaborative foresight for sustainability enhancement

The aim of the study was to explore futures images of collaborative sustainability enhancement within a cruise ship building network. Addressing collaborative sustainability at the organizational level rather than at the macro (regional or planetary) level, the paper explores socially constructed and shared futures images, which are less widely studied than individual-level images of the future. We advance an analytical model for constructing and evaluating collectively held futures images based on the structure and content of those images. From our data, we identified four futures images: Money rules; The customer is always right; Local economy focus; and The most sustainable ships in the …

Planetary well-being and sustainable business : A work in progress

Businesses have a significant impact on global environmental and social sustainability. To address the related issues, the concept of sustainable business has been introduced, which refers to the practices that businesses can adopt to minimize their negative economic, environmental, and social impacts. This chapter presents a critical analysis of selected sustainable business concepts and practices using planetary well-being as a conceptual framework. In terms of conceptual approaches, the chapter discusses circular economy (circulation of resources without creating waste), degrowth (shrinking of production and consumption to respect planetary boundaries), and sustainability transition (rad…

Employee Sensemaking on the Importance of Sustainability Reporting in Sustainability Identity Change

This study examines employee sensemaking processes in order to understand the role of sustainability reporting in organizational identity change. Through an analysis of 52 interviews with employees in two Finnish companies, we develop sensemaking frames for understanding the role of sustainability reporting in organizational identity change. The three sensemaking frames are individualistic, relational and decoupled. Each of these sensemaking frames differs in stakeholder orientation. They indicate that sensemaking influences the interpretation of how important sustainability reporting is for organizational identity change towards sustainability. The study shows how the individualistic and r…

Triggering sustainability communication in a B2B context: combining action research and sensemaking

PurposeThe paper explores processes associated with the adoption of corporate sustainability communication in a B2B context. It employs a combined action research and sensemaking approach to document moments that precede the initiation of external sustainability communication.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is the outcome of an action research project, where we examine the case of one industrial company that was silent on its multiple sustainability-related practices, but recently decided to become more transparent to the outside world. A processual approach to sensemaking is adopted to show how organisational and non-organisational members actively participated in meaning co-construct…

A systematic literature review of the transition to the circular economy in business organizations: Obstacles, catalysts and ambivalences

There is a need for a transition from unsustainable linear business models to a more sustainable circular approach, called the circular economy. To promote this need, a deeper understanding of which issues hinder organizations’ transition to the circular economy and which ones catalyse it is needed. A systematic literature review was performed on the business implementation of the circular economy and 69 articles covering the topic were found. The review identifies different types of catalyst, obstacles and ambivalent factors influencing circular economy implementation in business. This study contributes to research on circular economy implementation at business organizations by providing u…

Past, present and future of environmental reporting in the Finnish forest industry