Work

Objects as Means of Sustainability Knowledge Co-Creation: Working on Value-Laden Issues Across the Research-Practice Boundary

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The negative sustainability impacts of business keep escalating despite the profusion of research-based evidence regarding problems and solution pathways. Sustainability knowledge is complex and value-laden, thus often difficult to act upon. Co-creation between researchers and practitioners stands as a fruitful means of making sustainability knowledge more actionable, yet we lack insight into what motivates and facilitates sustainability knowledge co-creation. Boundary objects, which assist collaboration among diverse groups, can facilitate knowledge co-creation between researchers and practitioners, but little is known of their workings in the context of tackling value-laden sustainability issues. Based on rich qualitative data from two empirical cases, we examine how boundary objects motivate and facilitate knowledge co-creation between practitioners and researchers, helping to make sustainability knowledge more actionable. Our analysis illuminates three main dynamics whereby boundary objects do so: boundary objects initiate dialogue on complex issues through conveying clarity, provide a physical realm for co-creation in a value-laden domain, and motivate participation despite ethical vulnerability. These insights elaborate and challenge previous research regarding the boundary object ambiguity-clarity tension in the context of sustainability knowledge co-creation among diverse actor groups. Specifically, our findings foreground boundary object clarity, rather than ambiguity, in helping to initiate dialogue on complex sustainability issues. Furthermore, our analysis extends understanding of participant motivations to engage in sustainability knowledge co-creation, indicating that objects provide instrumental value and more intrinsic learning value, as well as help parties be with ethical vulnerability induced by knowledge co-creation around value-laden issues.

Source: Journal of Business Ethics

DOI: 10.1007/s10551-026-06478-3

Authors: Karelia Dagnaud, Minna Halme, Linda Lisa Maria Turunen, Jarkko Levänen

Institutions: Aalto University, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Subfield: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,790

Funders: Aalto-Yliopisto, Strategic Research Council