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Mental Models of Sustainability: Unearthing and Analyzing the Mental Images of Corporate Sustainability with Qualitative Empirical Research

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  • Stefan Hielscher
  • Matthias Georg Will

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the potential of a qualitative empirical research method [Ganzheitliche Bewältigung von Komplexität (GABEK®)] for systemic sustainability research. We interpret systemic corporate sustainability as a research programme that views the company and its environment as an ongoing process of social construction. Furthermore, we argue that the mental models of relevant actors are crucial within the process of social construction. We then present GABEK® as a unique method for qualitative empirical content analysis and highlight that GABEK® can contribute substantially to systemic sustainability research because it holds the potential to unearth and analyze the mental models of diverse actors with the scrutiny of empirical research. We illustrate this potential with a case study of a major German company's sustainability management (BASF AG), and we outline avenues for future research for an empirically oriented approach to systemic sustainability research. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Stefan Hielscher & Matthias Georg Will, 2014. "Mental Models of Sustainability: Unearthing and Analyzing the Mental Images of Corporate Sustainability with Qualitative Empirical Research," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 708-719, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:31:y:2014:i:6:p:708-719
    DOI: 10.1002/sres.2305
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. Stefan Hielscher & Ingo Pies & Vladislav Valentinov, 2012. "How to Foster Social Progress: An Ordonomic Perspective on Progressive Institutional Change," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 779-798.
    3. Vladislav Valentinov, 2011. "The Meaning of Nonprofit Organization: Insights from Classical Institutionalism," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 901-916.
    4. Pies, Ingo & Hielscher, Stefan & Beckmann, Markus, 2009. "Moral Commitments and the Societal Role of Business: An Ordonomic Approach to Corporate Citizenship," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 375-401, July.
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    1. Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2016. "Institutional Economics, Social Dilemmas, and the Complexity-Sustainability Trade-off (A response to Hielscher and Pies)," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 488-491, May.
    2. Wenzel, Matthias & Will, Matthias Georg, 2019. "The communicative constitution of academic fields in the digital age: The case of CSR," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 517-533.
    3. José Antonio Plaza‐Úbeda & Miguel Pérez‐Valls & José Joaquín Céspedes‐Lorente & Belén Payán‐Sánchez, 2020. "The contribution of systems theory to sustainability in degrowth contexts: The role of subsystems," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 68-81, January.
    4. Hielscher, Stefan & Winkin, Jan & Pies, Ingo, 2016. "NGO credibility as private or public good? A governance perspective on how to improve NGO advocacy in public discourse," Discussion Papers 2016-03, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Chair of Economic Ethics.
    5. Veldhuizen, Caroline, 2021. "Conceptualising the foundations of sustainability focused innovation policy: From constructivism to holism," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Felix Carl Schultz & Robert Jaroslav Reinhardt, 2022. "Facilitating systemic eco‐innovation to pave the way for a circular economy: A qualitative‐empirical study on barriers and drivers in the European polyurethane industry," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(5), pages 1646-1675, October.
    7. Vladislav Valentinov & Lioudmila Chatalova, 2016. "Institutional Economics and Social Dilemmas: a Systems Theory Perspective," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 138-149, January.

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