Pride or Embarrassment? Employees' Emotions and Corporate Social Responsibility

This study explores how the employees of a financial firm use emotional arguments to construct different views of their employer's corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is theoretically based on the recent literature regarding employee perspectives of CSR, and especially on the role of emotions in CSR. Furthermore, the study utilizes rhetorical theory as a framework for data analysis. A qualitative study, based on face-to-face interviews, was conducted among 27 employees in a Finnish financial firm. The study identifies six categories of emotional arguments the employees used to construct views of where their employing organization's CSR is derived from. These categories relate positive…

Shaping the Industry with a New Standard: Environmental Labels in the Aviation Industry

Several attempts have been made to make the aviation industry more sustainable with the help of environmental standards. This paper presents the idea of a new standard: the introducing an eco-label into the aviation industry. For this purpose 12 interviews with industry experts were conducted and thematically analyzed. It was discussed how environmental labels could be realized in the aviation industry. Eco-labels were seen as a useful tool for making environmentally informed choices. However, finding industry wide common agreement on eco-labels was seen as difficult and it would require an independent authority to set the right standards and rules. nonPeerReviewed

Yritys tuottaa - sidosryhmät käyttävät? : WINCSR-hankkeen tuloksia yritysvastuutiedon tuottamisesta ja käyttämisestä

Täsmäratkaisuja kestävään tulevaisuuteen : suosituksia planetaarisen hyvinvoinnin tukemiseen poliittisessa ohjelmatyössä

Peer reviewed

Monetary information in sustainability reports: How is it related with stakeholders?

Sustainability reports have recently become a central tool for a corporation in convincing different stakeholder of their sustainability performance. The research and especially criticism towards sustainability reports is increasing. One solution for the criticism would be that companies provide more monetary arguments of their sustainability work. Currently there is a research gap of the content of the monetary sustainability reporting. This paper aims to address this gap by analysing how three Finnish companies construct the classification of stakeholders in terms of monetary information in their sustainability reports between 2003 and 2012. We studied three Finnish companies which repres…

Työntekijät vastuullisuuden sidosryhmänä : monimerkityksellisyys ja vastuullisuusviestinnän haasteet

Environmental rhetoric in Finnish business : environmental values and stakeholder relations in the corporate argumentation of acceptable environmental management

Technical and strategic orientations have dominated the field of environmental management research as well as corporate practices. Understanding of the power of language, cultural words and human interaction has been missing in environmental management research.This study focuses on understanding rhetoric construction of acceptable environmental management. The research task here is to describe and interpret the rhetoric forms that are used to produce acceptable environmental action in Finnish business, with a special interest on environmental values and stakeholder relations produced in the studied data. I adhere to the school of new rhetoric that suggests that difference between rhetoric …

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…

One Rule to Rule Them All? Organisational Sensemaking of Corporate Responsibility

Corporate responsibility (CR) has often been criticised as a decoupled organisational phenomenon: a publicly espoused rule that is not followed in daily organisational practices. We argue that a crucial reason for this criticism arises from the dominant in-house assumption of CR literature, which mitigates tensions and contradictions in organisational life by claiming that integrated rules result in coupled practices. We aim to provide new insights by problematising this in-house assumption and by examining how members of two organisations discursively make sense of CR, as a daily rule-bound practice, via three strategies: integration, differentiation and fragmentation. We elaborate the con…

A systematic literature review on employee relations with CSR: State of art and future research agenda

An eco-label for the airline industry?

Abstract Air travel plays a vital role in today's life because it makes remote destinations accessible and short getaways possible. Despite its benefits, air transportation contributes heavily to climate change. Behavioral change is seen as a key driver in mitigating the environmental impacts of air travel. One way to encourage behavioral change is to use eco-labels. This study explores how an eco-label could be developed for the airline industry to function as a potential driver for behavioral change. 12 interviews with airline industry experts were conducted and thematically analyzed. Empirical results were then combined with prior research and the following five criteria essential for th…

Social Proximity and Environmental NGO Relationships in Corporate Sustainability Reports

This study demonstrates how three Finnish companies constructed their stakeholder relationships with environmental NGOs (ENGOs) in terms of social proximity in their sustainability reports between 2003 and 2012. The study identifies five types of stakeholder relationship between ENGOs and corporations constructed in the reports: monetary, management system, collaborative, dialogue and conflicting. Within these relationships the level of constructed social proximity and level of trust vary. The results indicate that, within the 10 years we examined, a change has occurred in the ENGO relationships constructed in corporate sustainability reports: they have shifted from being non-stakeholder re…

Pride or Embarrassment? Employees’ Emotions and Corporate Social Responsibility

This study explores how the employees of a financial firm use emotional arguments to construct different views of their employer's corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is theoretically based on the recent literature regarding employee perspectives of CSR, and especially on the role of emotions in CSR. Furthermore, the study utilizes rhetorical theory as a framework for data analysis. A qualitative study, based on face-to-face interviews, was conducted among 27 employees in a Finnish financial firm. The study identifies six categories of emotional arguments the employees used to construct views of where their employing organization's CSR is derived from. These categories relate positive…

Exploring the potential of an air transport eco-label

Air transport plays a vital role in tourism because it makes long-haul destinations accessible and more frequent vacations possible. Despite its benefits, air travel extensively contributes to climate change. Behavioural change is seen as a key driver in mitigating the environmental impacts of air transport. One way to encourage behavioural change is the use of eco-labels. This paper presents the idea of introducing an air transport eco-label. It explores the idea’s potential and realization through the thematic analysis of 12 interviews with airline industry experts. The results indicated a need for an air transport eco-label. It could help build awareness among air travellers by providing…

Employee Rhetoric in the Acceptance or Rejection of Corporate Environmentalism

This study explores how employees in a Finnish financial company use rhetorical strategies to accept or reject corporate environmentalism. It is based on a qualitative study in which face-to-face interviews were conducted among 30 employees. The study shows how employees rejected corporate environmentalism by dissociating their employer from polluters or by dissociating environmental values from other values in the financial business. It also shows how they accepted corporate environmentalism by associating it with other business virtues and by associating the employer with polluters. The study identifies rhetorical strategies as a means for employees to construct an understanding of corpor…

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 …

Realizing the social acceptance of community renewable energy: A process-outcome analysis of stakeholder influence

This study shows how stakeholders influence the development of community renewable energy (CRE) schemes and how they are influenced by their outcome. It relies on information collected during 41 structured interviews with local people involved in CRE initiatives in seven regions of Europe. The interviews were thematically analyzed to identify different types of stakeholder influence. The findings show that stakeholder influence on CRE schemes take place at three distinct levels: macro, intercommunity and intracommunity. In addition, key stakeholders can support or hinder the development of a project according to whether or not they perceive that the output of the project may benefit or harm…

A systematic literature review on employee relations with CSR : State of art and future research agenda

Within recent years, the literature on employee–CSR relations has grown significantly. However, the research is fragmented throughout various journals and disciplines, and we still lack a comprehensive literature review on the topic to show what we currently know about the employee relationship with CSR, and what we do not know. In this study, we conduct a systematic literature review on employee relations with CSR, based 331 journal articles. We analyze their methodological and theoretical approaches. Based on their key findings, we build a categorization of dominant research findings and their connections. Building on our review, we show how the research has been dominated by a focus on t…

Understanding the scaling-up of community energy niches through Strategic Niche Management Theory: insights from Finland

The growing phenomenon of civil society involvement in renewable energy generation has attracted researchers’ interest. However, rather little is known of how a diverse and relatively small sector such as community energy could scale up and promote a change in energy production. We examine this issue through the lens of Strategic Niche Management (SNM) and conceptualize community energy as a socio-technical niche that holds the potential to promote a transition to renewable energy. Drawing on interview data with members of community energy projects and experts in Finland, we identify different types of community energy projects and the factors that may prevent them from scaling up. The stud…

Vihreän yrityskulttuurin luominen henkilöstön sitouttamisen ja ympäristöjärjestelmän rakentamisen avulla

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…

Implications of Managerial Framing of Stakeholders in Environmental Reports

Corporate environmental reports are increasingly viewed as products of the managerial framing of responsibility and stakeholders. This notion encouraged us to conduct a multiple case study on how stakeholders are framed in environmental reports. We show how interaction between companies and stakeholders is described in the environmental reports of three firms operating in different business sectors – financial, aviation and energy – over a period of five years. We use an inductively oriented content analysis to identify five categories of relationships being constructed in the data: demanding, promoting, committing, donating and preventing. We then show how commitment and promotion dominate…

"Switch the lights off” : Employee argumentation on acceptance or rejection of corporate environmentalism in a financial corporation

This study explores the rhetorical strategies used by employees in a financial corporation to reject or accept corporate environmentalism among corporate responsibilities. The study is theoretically based on rhetoric and on prior research on acceptance or rejection of corporate environmentalism among other corporate responsibilities in an organization. A qualitative study, based on face-to-face interviews was conducted among 30 employees in a Finnish financial corporation. The study shows that employees reject corporate environmentalism based on value priorities and perception of little or no environmental impacts. They accept corporate environmentalism among other responsibilities based on…

An eco-label for the airline industry?

Air travel plays a vital role in today's life because it makes remote destinations accessible and short getaways possible. Despite its benefits, air transportation contributes heavily to climate change. Behavioral change is seen as a key driver in mitigating the environmental impacts of air travel. One way to encourage behavioral change is to use eco-labels. This study explores how an eco-label could be developed for the airline industry to function as a potential driver for behavioral change. 12 interviews with airline industry experts were conducted and thematically analyzed. Empirical results were then combined with prior research and the following five criteria essential for the develop…

Multiple forms of stakeholder interaction in environmental management: business arguments regarding differences in stakeholder relationships

This study describes and interprets differences in stakeholder interaction as rhetorically constructed in environmental reports and in interviews with environmental managers. It also interprets the role of the natural environment among stakeholders, and discusses how that role is justified or not justified. The study focuses in a business perspective on stakeholder interaction in environmental management. Characteristically, stakeholder studies of environmental management have concentrated on stakeholder influence or the creation of stakeholder management models. In contrast to those, the present study identifies different types of stakeholder relationships: power-based, collaborative, conf…

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 …

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…

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…

Business in society or business and society: the construction of business–society relations in responsibility reports from a critical discursive perspective

In this article, we analyse the discursive construction of business–society relations in Finnish businesses’ social and environmental responsibility reports. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, we examine how these discursive constructions maintain and reproduce various interests and societal conditions as a precondition of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Our study contributes to the recent discussion on discursive struggles in business–society relations and the role various interests play in this struggle. We find that not only are power asymmetries between actors veiled through the universalization of interests, but reporting can also be seen as a communicative action that prov…

How environmental NGO’s are addressed in sustainability reporting?

This study demonstrates how three Finnish companies in different business fields construct their relationships with environmental NGOs in their sustainability reports concerning during the studied timeframe, years 2007-2011. The study identifies five different types of relationships constructed in the reports between ENGOs and the corporation: monetary based, management system based, collaborative, dialogue based and conflicting relationships. The study shows that the descriptions of relationships are very neutral, and both the intensive environmental management alliances and conflicting relationships are mainly missing in the reports. peerReviewed