PurposeThe paper explores processes associated with the adoption of corporate sustainability communication in a B2B context. It employs a combined action research and sensemaking approach to document moments that precede the initiation of external sustainability communication.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is the outcome of an action research project, where we examine the case of one industrial company that was silent on its multiple sustainability-related practices, but recently decided to become more transparent to the outside world. A processual approach to sensemaking is adopted to show how organisational and non-organisational members actively participated in meaning co-construction.FindingsCorporate silence can be disrupted by triggering events that cause moments of sudden realisation for organisational members, eventually leading to the initiation of sensemaking processes inside the organisation. Once this occurs, the possibility of externally communicating sustainability appears a feasible and strategic approach to pursue. We document how different actors are involved in meaning co-construction and how the entire process of sensemaking unfolds.Practical implicationsA sensemaking approach sheds light on the complexity of sustainability communication, where multiple actors are involved. This is a useful approach to consider in order to couple sustainability with other organisational practices. Moreover, sensemaking opens a window of opportunity for various societal actors' interventions to shape the role and content of sustainability communication.Originality/valueThe paper offers an original, theoretically informed methodological contribution to the literature on sustainability communication by coupling a sensemaking approach with action research. The approach is employed to examine the role of internal organisational actors in sustainability reporting processes, an area that has received scant attention.

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The study addressed sharing of futures insights as a component of sustainability agency for long-term company enhancement in an interorganizational shipbuilders’ network. The purpose was to analyze social structures under “agency” terminology. This joint sustainability project involved a partnership of firms, academia, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) actors in collaborative cruise ship building. The study adapted a mixed method approach where social network analysis (SNA) was enriched with other contextual data to make network data more applicable and accessible. The results revealed a loose and thin network structure, with relatively high trust among network actors. The network’s social structure was found to facilitate insight sharing. Lead firm actors clearly played a central role in enhancing sustainability, and the researchers, as well as industrial association actors, made a significant contribution to insight sharing and transmission. The findings suggest that the case network would benefit from an open and balanced social structure that incorporates a number of insight brokers to enhance forward-looking sustainability agency (F-L SA). Futures insight sharing enhances agency in the context of joint sustainability actions and improves capacity to respond to systemic challenges. Understanding how proactive agency can be promoted in network settings strengthens strategic aspects of managerial practice and contributes to discourse around sustainability agency.

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