Work

Degrowth and business: Towards a holistic research agenda

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: A growing number of publications focuses on business in relation to degrowth. Such research, for example, considers what it would take for businesses to become degrowth-compatible, what business practices need to be in place, and how businesses would have to relate with nature, human and non-human beings. Although degrowth business scholarship has come a long way in the past couple of years, many key questions have yet to be posed and addressed more systematically. The present contribution uses the new philosophically informed ‘deep transformations’ theory of degrowth to propose a holistic research agenda that can guide future degrowth business research. Rooted in the four planes of social being (material transactions with nature, social interactions, social structures, and inner being) underpinning this theory, combined with a framework classifying three types of knowledge (system, transformation, and target) about the present, short- and medium-, and long-term futures, the contribution identifies and systematically orders a series of questions for degrowth business scholarship to consider.

Source: Journal of Cleaner Production

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.145614

Authors: Iana Nesterova, Hubert Buch-Hansen, Manuel Suter, Jens Rennstam, Tobias Froese

Institutions: Roskilde University, Copenhagen Business School

Language: English

Topic: Environmental Sustainability in Business

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,660