Sustainability-in-the-making: Enduring commitment to socio-ecological matters of concern
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In this paper, we move beyond the economic reductionism of the “business case” paradigm in sustainability research and explore complexity in organizations’ engagement with socio-ecological matters. For this, we draw from Latour (2004; 2005; 2008) where he argues for an ontological shift from observing reality as matters of fact to engaging with its complexities as matters of concern and utilize Actor-Network Theory to re-frame sustainability from the business case to sustainability as relational practices. We study empirically how commitment to socio-ecological matters of concern is maintained, with a longitudinal case study of an exemplar fashion company’s sustainability initiative between 2012 and 2020. Analyses of our in-depth qualitative data led to articulating sustainability-in-the-making : an ongoing process where the agency of human and nonhuman collective assemblages produced organizational transformation and endured commitment to socio-ecological matters of concern. Our findings contribute to organizational sustainability literature by: 1- offering an ontological shift from the business case to relational practices , which enables focusing on emerging and evolving organizational transformations overlooked by the business case; 2- challenging the hierarchical conception of “scale” by illustrating how human and nonhuman actors in their own settings composed collectives and produced and expanded impact around matters of concern; and 3- showing the significance of dealing with controversies – disagreements and debates around particular matters of concern – in enduring commitment to socio-ecological issues.
Authors: Seray Ergene, Marta B. Calás, Erim Ergene
Institutions: Bryant University, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
OpenAlex ID: W4413818554