Through the Smokescreen of the Dieselgate Disclosure: Neutralizing the Impacts of a Major Sustainability Scandal

This article analyzes the main neutralization techniques used in car manufacturers’ sustainability reports to disclose on the Dieselgate scandal. We conduct a conventional qualitative content analysis of 72 sustainability reports, covering the period 2013-2017, from 15 car manufacturers that were accused of unethical behaviors related to the measurement of diesel vehicle pollutant emissions. We then present a framework based on four configurations of neutralization techniques, namely, “head in the sand,” “self-proclaimed green leadership,” “wait and see,” and “start of a new era.” We describe that the manufacturers used heterogeneous neutralization techniques. Furthermore, the sustainability reports analyzed are relatively opaque and disconnected from the accusations made against the companies, which are widely reported by external sources. This article contributes to the emerging literature on the defensive impression management practices used to rationalize corporate misconduct in this area.

Regenerative Organizations: Introduction to the Special Issue

This special issue presents six articles and two invited editorials that explore the antecedents, mechanisms, and consequences of regenerative organizing. Together, they draw on a range of disciplines from both organizational and environmental sciences to discover, theorize, and illustrate life-giving intersections between humans and natural ecosystems in Anthropocene. This introduction provides an overview of the reasons for, and especially the possibilities of, regenerative organizing as we stress the limits of planetary boundaries in a post-climate change world.

Reconciling Institutional Logics Within First Nations Forestry-Based Social Enterprises

The institutional frameworks that Indigenous groups put in place to govern economic processes within their communities are critical to the advancement of their diverse cultural-ecological, social, and economic development goals. Through the lens of institutional logics, this article examines the ways in which First Nations community sawmill enterprises in British Columbia, Canada, navigate the sectoral demands brought by a productivist paradigm of forestry. We find that First Nations community sawmill enterprises represent spaces of both logical tension and innovation where conflicts that arise between dominant “commercial” logics and culturally legitimate “Indigenous” logics can be reconciled. Through this analysis, this article offers an empirical example of the emergence of Indigenous institutional frameworks, as well as a contribution to the growing body of literature that addresses the ways in which hybrid organizations can and do navigate and overcome conflicting institutional logics.

Human Hubris, Anthropogenic Climate Change, and an Environmental Ethic of Humility

This article is about how hubris, individually and collectively, has contributed to the climate emergency and how an environmental ethic of humility could play an ameliorating role in the crisis. It focuses on the relationship between virtue ethics and the natural environment, and it argues that a collective “human hubris” (“The Problem”) has contributed significantly to anthropogenic climate change and that a “humility-based approach” toward the environment that entails an appreciation of humanity’s proper place in the natural order (“A Solution”). In it, we combine theories from the social and environmental sciences to propose an environmental ethic of humility as an “antidote” to human hubris by which leaders and other stakeholders could steer institutions, organisations, and behaviour towards environmental virtuousness. We also suggest the environmental ethic of humility as a benchmark against which stakeholders could be held to account for the environmental impacts of their actions. The article discusses the implications of hubris and humility in the areas governance, consumer behaviour, reputation, learning and education, accountability, and critical reflexivity.

Configurations to Superior Environmental Innovation Strategy: A Both–And Approach

An effective climate change action involves the critical role that companies must play in assuring the long-term human and social well-being of future generations. In our study, we offer a more holistic, inclusive, both–and approach to the challenge of environmental innovation (EI) that uses a novel methodology to identify relevant configurations for firms engaging in a superior EI strategy. A conceptual framework is proposed that identifies six sets of driving characteristics of EI and two sets of beneficial outcomes, all inherently tensional. Our analysis utilizes a complementary rather than an oppositional point of view. A data set of 65 companies in the ICT value chain is analyzed via fuzzy-set comparative analysis (fsQCA) and a post-QCA procedure. The results reveal that achieving a superior EI strategy is possible in several scenarios. Specifically, after close examination, two main configuration groups emerge, referred to as technological environmental innovators and organizational environmental innovators.

The Quest for Low-Carbon Mobility: Sustainability Tensions and Responses When Retail Translates a Manufacturer’s Decarbonization Strategy

Corporate action to tackle climate change is affected by multifaceted tensions, which are insufficiently investigated. It therefore remains unclear how tensions become salient and how they are responded to when a new strategy is introduced. We propose that translation theory can inform paradox theory and explore this conceptualization using a qualitative case-study research design. Specifically, we examine how retail translates the decarbonization strategy of a car manufacturer. We show how retail employees, in their role as translators, compare the manufacturer’s strategy against their context and thereby make tensions salient in a context-dependent manner. Additionally, we examine how translators respond to salient tensions by applying eight different contextualization mechanisms to resolve the tensions between the new strategy and contextual factors. In one subunit, the translation of the new strategy fails, and the tension persists. We derive two theoretical propositions from the studied patterns of the salience of and response to tensions.

Tinkering With the Plumbing of Sustainable Enterprises: The Case for Field Experimental Research in Corporate Sustainability

In this introduction, we first review the lessons learned in development economics about the ability of randomized control trials to analyse what Duflo refers to as the “plumbing problems” of policy implementation, as opposed to “engineering problems” of policy design. We then examine the papers published within this special issue from a plumbing-based perspective to highlight the benefits of the co-creation of knowledge in corporate sustainability through a field-based experimental agenda. We finally propose that field-based experiments can radically influence the future development of our (and related) fields of inquiry in three ways: (1) focusing on the implementation processes of sustainability strategies, (2) shifting attention from the analysis of past events to the design of future actions, and (3) yielding our role as sole owners of the knowledge development process and agreeing to shared ownership with the organizations we study.

Join In . . . and Drop Out? Firm Adoption of and Disengagement From Voluntary Environmental Programs

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) offer opportunities for companies and stakeholders to improve environmental outcomes valued by society in the absence of regulatory mandates. Research has addressed numerous antecedents for firm adoption of VEPs, enhancing knowledge of how stakeholders and firms engage on substantive issues of public importance. However, program adoption is dynamic, and stagnant participation rates may threaten program longevity when firms do not realize expected benefits. Prior literature has not sufficiently addressed the factors that compel firms to drop out. In this study I articulate three consequential drivers of firm commitment to VEPs—transparency, effort, and achievement—and empirically estimate their effects on firm disengagement from one such prominent program: CDP (formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project). Findings indicate that firm transparency and effort represent powerful commitment mechanisms driving continued program participation. This study contributes to theory over multiple literatures related to VEP participation and offers practical guidance for both VEPs and firms.

Organizational Learning for Environmental Sustainability: Internalizing Lifecycle Management

Implementing a substantial environmental strategy that addresses all phases of the product lifecycle is a complex and demanding challenge that most organizations fail to convincingly overcome. Based on a case study of five frontrunner companies located in Italy and Norway, this study explores the factors that promote, or hinder, the learning process underlying the implementation of substantial measures for lifecycle management and how this can contribute to further internalizing environmental sustainability throughout the organization. The article contributes to the literature on organizational learning and environmental sustainability by showing, from a dynamic perspective, the enablers of organizational learning required for internalizing lifecycle management in organizations. A new framework for environmental sustainability based on the 4Is (intuiting, interpreting, integrating, and institutionalizing) organizational learning model is put forward in line with the concept of lifecycle management. Managerial implications are also discussed.