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‘Activists in a Suit’: Paradoxes and Metaphors in Sustainability Managers’ Identity Work

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  • Luca Carollo

    (Università degli Studi di Milano)

  • Marco Guerci

    (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Abstract

Both sustainability and identity are said to be paradoxical issues in organizations. In this study we look at the paradoxes of corporate sustainability at the individual level by studying the identity work of those managers who hold sustainability-dedicated roles in organizations. Analysing 26 interviews with sustainability managers, we identify three main tensions affecting their identity construction process: the business versus values oriented, the organizational insider versus outsider and the short-term versus long-term focused identity work tensions. When dealing with these tensions, some interviewees express a paradoxical perspective in attempting to accept and maintain the two poles of each of them simultaneously. It emerges in particular that metaphorical reasoning can be used by sustainability managers in varied ways to cope with the tensions of identity work. We read these findings in light of the existing literature on the relation between paradoxes and identity work, highlighting and discussing their implications for both research and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Carollo & Marco Guerci, 2018. "‘Activists in a Suit’: Paradoxes and Metaphors in Sustainability Managers’ Identity Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 249-268, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:148:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3582-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3582-7
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    2. Joya A. Kemper & C. Michael Hall & Paul W. Ballantine, 2019. "Marketing and Sustainability: Business as Usual or Changing Worldviews?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Brett R. Smith & Amanda Lawson & Jessica Jones & Tim Holcomb & Aimee Minnich, 2022. "Trying to Serve Two Masters is Easy, Compared to Three: Identity Multiplicity Work by Christian Impact Investors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 1053-1070, September.
    4. Janne J. Salovaara, 2022. "Sustainability Alumni at Work—Interviews on Educated Sustainability Professionalism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-13, November.
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    6. Enrico Fontana & Sanne Frandsen & Mette Morsing, 2023. "Saving the World? How CSR Practitioners Live Their Calling by Constructing Different Types of Purpose in Three Occupational Stages," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 741-766, July.
    7. Thierry Devaux, 2023. "Vulnérabilité, paradoxe et RSE," Post-Print hal-03959680, HAL.

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