Not My Business: How Individuals’ Role Identities Shape Sensegiving During Corporate Sustainability Initiatives

Urgent societal issues such as climate change and social inequality require fundamental organizational changes toward sustainability. While some companies are moving toward sustainability, others are struggling to make progress. One reason for this is differences in the way sustainability issues are perceived and interpreted.

Managing organizational change requires leaders to engage in meaningful activities to change how their employees interpret issues. However, detailed insights into how differences in employees’ roles and role identities interact with organizational sense-making are lacking. A better understanding of the interplay between role identities and sense-making is therefore crucial, as it sheds light on the microfoundations of organizational change.

This research gap is addressed by Joern Hoppmann, Marcel Richert and Timo Busch, Professor of Management and Sustainability at the University of Hamburg and member of our Scientific Advisory Board. Their 18-month longitudinal case study of a sustainability initiative at a medium-sized company has important implications for practice. It helps to understand how managers can design interventions to change frameworks and role identities from employees.

You can read the whole article here: https://doi.org/10.1177/10860266231183955 (Hoppmann, J., Richert, M., & Busch, T. (2023). Not My Business: How Individuals’ Role Identities Shape Sensegiving During Corporate Sustainability Initiatives. Organization & Environment, 0(0)).