Institutionalized: Organizational obstacles to communicating sustainability

Brackin, Patricia; House, Richard; Mueller-Price, Jennifer; DeVasher, Michael; Layton, Richard A.; Taylor, Corey M.; DeVasher, Rebecca; Minster, M.; Toohey, Kathleen S.

doi:10.1109/ipcc.2011.6087214

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…After a decade of increasing attention devoted to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the social license to operate for all kinds of organizations, sustainability communication is only slowly emerging as a new field of research at the intersection of Public Relations (PR), Marketing, Consumer Research, Science and Environmental Communication. Few authors have tried to demarcate this area so far (Allen, 2016; Brackin et al, 2011; Dade and Hassenzahl, 2013; Godemann and Michelsen, 2011), stating that communication about sustainability is in the focus rather than communication for sustainable development (Genc, 2017; Newig et al, 2013; Weder et al, 2019a). Furthermore, in both dimensions, the functional, instrumental understanding of communication dominates related concepts (Bjorn et al, 2019; Kunstman and Rattle, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic problematization of sustainability reframing dissent in strategic communication for transformation

Weder

2021

Public Relations Inquiry

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Involving stakeholders in organizational decisions is essential in the present sustainability movement, associated with the social license to operate and specific forms of communication in, from and about organizations with an impact orientation. This paper introduces a concept of strategic problematization of sustainability for transformation as innovative approach to Public Relations (PR), acknowledging the plurality of agonistic voices in stakeholder engagement processes in social, cultural and environmental transformations and challenging the normative concept of dialogue and solution- and consensus-oriented approaches to date. The article discusses the transformative potential of PR by reframing dissent and introducing problematization as ability to agonize and, therefore, as key process of constructive strategic communication for sustainable development. Three conversational procedures in water (scarcity) management on a local, national and international level were chosen to explore the potential of strategic problematization in relation to sustainability as normative framework of today’s society. The implications of the case studies and the conceptual framework expand existing engagement theories with a critical perspective and manifest the transformative potential of PR for a sustainable future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic problematization of sustainability reframing dissent in strategic communication for transformation

Weder

2021

Public Relations Inquiry

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“…The state of art in sustainability communication is, that there are only a few bits of literature offering an overview in this area (Brackin et al, 2011;Godemann and Michelsen, 2011;Dade and Hassenzahl, 2013;Allen, 2016). They show, that sustainability studies and other scientific engagement with the notion of sustainable development has an interdisciplinary, as well as transdisciplinary character (Weder et al, 2019b).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability as Cognitive “Friction”: A Narrative Approach to Understand the Moral Dissonance of Sustainability and Harmonization Strategies

2020

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Narratives represent storied ways of knowing and communicating, thus, have always been a key feature in media and communication research. In our contribution, a concept to explain sustainability-related cognitive dissonances as well as a new version of a narrative inquiry is introduced to capture reflections on experiences of sustainability and individual assessments of (un)sustainable behavior over time. We perceive storytelling as an action, as act of problematization which uncovers cognitive dissonances and coping strategies. Using Rory's Story Cubes ® (dice with pictograms), we stimulated 35 interviewees from various cultural backgrounds (Asian, European, Anglo-American) to "story" sustainability-related life events into order and meaning. Our evaluation of the interviews 1 focused on the story as a whole, which was then linked to the individual biographical background to understand motives for and moral conflicts about (un)sustainable behavior. In the paper we discuss and critique this theoretical concept and the related innovative inquiry form in the area of environmental communication research to gain a better understanding of individual perceptions of sustainability, moral dissonances, and cognitive friction occurring in relation to sustainability-related issues.

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“…The state of art in science communication as well sustainability science right now includes remarkable width [17,18]. However, this creates complicated challenges for those interested in sustainability communication, which is already debated in the very few pieces of literature in this area [19][20][21]. Sustainability studies and other scientific engagement with the notion of sustainable development can be demarcated as a field of research itself with an interdisciplinary, as well as transdisciplinary character [5,6].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Re)storying Sustainability: The Use of Story Cubes in Narrative Inquiries to Understand Individual Perceptions of Sustainability

2019

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Narratives represent storied ways of knowing and communicating. Therefore, storytelling, framing and narrative analyses have always been a key feature in media and communication research. In this paper, an innovative approach to narrative inquiries is introduced to capture reflections on individual experiences of sustainability over time. Storytelling is perceived as an act of problematization and, at the same time, as method of analysis. Using Rory’s Story Cubes® (dices with pictograms), we stimulated 35 interviewees from various cultural backgrounds (Asian, European, Anglo-American) to story life events that they relate to sustainability and put it into order and meaning. Our analysis and evaluation of the interviews focused on the story as a whole, which was then linked to the individual biographical background to understand motives and the moral frame(work) for problematizing (un)sustainable behavior. In particular, we focus on problematization as core process of storytelling and complement existing approaches coming from actor-network theory and Foucault’s discourse analysis with Entman’s concept of framing. In this paper, this innovative form of a narrative inquiry is put up for discussion for environmental communication research in order to create a better understanding of individual perceptions of sustainability and sustainability related issues.

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Institutionalized: Organizational obstacles to communicating sustainability

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Strategic problematization of sustainability reframing dissent in strategic communication for transformation

Strategic problematization of sustainability reframing dissent in strategic communication for transformation

Sustainability as Cognitive “Friction”: A Narrative Approach to Understand the Moral Dissonance of Sustainability and Harmonization Strategies

(Re)storying Sustainability: The Use of Story Cubes in Narrative Inquiries to Understand Individual Perceptions of Sustainability

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