Making the world a better place: The strategic role of communication practitioners in sustainability organisations
(2022) SKOM12 20221Department of Strategic Communication
- Abstract (Swedish)
- The unusual conditions that prevailed during the last couple of years set the
ground for an unprecedented boost in the global agenda of sustainability. This situation has resulted into a growing wave of new organisations that are tackling the main social and environmental challenges of our time while turning them into
profitable and innovative business solutions. Communication practitioners working
in these companies need to efficiently navigate this market, growing in size and popularity, to provide their companies with the competitive edge needed to stand out. Furthermore, the complex context that surrounds the field of sustainability
communication and the often-abstract issues it deals with, stand out for their high levels of... (More) - The unusual conditions that prevailed during the last couple of years set the
ground for an unprecedented boost in the global agenda of sustainability. This situation has resulted into a growing wave of new organisations that are tackling the main social and environmental challenges of our time while turning them into
profitable and innovative business solutions. Communication practitioners working
in these companies need to efficiently navigate this market, growing in size and popularity, to provide their companies with the competitive edge needed to stand out. Furthermore, the complex context that surrounds the field of sustainability
communication and the often-abstract issues it deals with, stand out for their high levels of uncertainty due to the absence of a lawfully standardised definition of sustainability. For this reason, this study aims to determine the strategic nature of sustainability communication by exploring the way communication practitioners working for small sustainability companies in Sweden, make sense of their role and the context around it. The thesis includes the findings collected through a systemic-constructivist perspective from 12 in-depth semi-structured digital interviews with participants from companies who offered solutions in multiple fields of sustainability. Results show a trend of overinflation of the term that practitioners are trying to stay away from in order to respond to the transparency and accountability demands of increasingly specialised and skeptical consumers and stakeholders. They showed an emotional dimension to a complex and fluid role where they need to strategically navigate overwhelming amounts of constantly changing information emerging from multiple sources that challenges their capability to plan ahead. In general, findings point out an urgent need for practitioners working in sustainability communication to acquire strategic skills to successfully navigate the main challenges of their roles. Current research shows that despite the recent boost in popularity of both fields of sustainability and strategic communication, the clear global focus on sustainable development is here to stay. For this reason, exploring deeper into the strategic nature of sustainability communication, can open a path into a needed and exponential growth for both fields. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9085019
- author
- Rodriguez Badilla, Aurora LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SKOM12 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- sustainability communication, communication practitioner, strategic role, sensemaking theory
- language
- English
- id
- 9085019
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-27 14:23:04
- date last changed
- 2022-06-27 14:23:04
@misc{9085019,
abstract = {{The unusual conditions that prevailed during the last couple of years set the
ground for an unprecedented boost in the global agenda of sustainability. This situation has resulted into a growing wave of new organisations that are tackling the main social and environmental challenges of our time while turning them into
profitable and innovative business solutions. Communication practitioners working
in these companies need to efficiently navigate this market, growing in size and popularity, to provide their companies with the competitive edge needed to stand out. Furthermore, the complex context that surrounds the field of sustainability
communication and the often-abstract issues it deals with, stand out for their high levels of uncertainty due to the absence of a lawfully standardised definition of sustainability. For this reason, this study aims to determine the strategic nature of sustainability communication by exploring the way communication practitioners working for small sustainability companies in Sweden, make sense of their role and the context around it. The thesis includes the findings collected through a systemic-constructivist perspective from 12 in-depth semi-structured digital interviews with participants from companies who offered solutions in multiple fields of sustainability. Results show a trend of overinflation of the term that practitioners are trying to stay away from in order to respond to the transparency and accountability demands of increasingly specialised and skeptical consumers and stakeholders. They showed an emotional dimension to a complex and fluid role where they need to strategically navigate overwhelming amounts of constantly changing information emerging from multiple sources that challenges their capability to plan ahead. In general, findings point out an urgent need for practitioners working in sustainability communication to acquire strategic skills to successfully navigate the main challenges of their roles. Current research shows that despite the recent boost in popularity of both fields of sustainability and strategic communication, the clear global focus on sustainable development is here to stay. For this reason, exploring deeper into the strategic nature of sustainability communication, can open a path into a needed and exponential growth for both fields.}},
author = {{Rodriguez Badilla, Aurora}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Making the world a better place: The strategic role of communication practitioners in sustainability organisations}},
year = {{2022}},
}