Moving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative Transition

Background: Climate change has become the most pressing challenge of our time. Current business approaches to sustainability are instrumental that may portray sustainability as a source of corporate profit rather than acting for change beyond mitigation and adaptation. A regenerative approach to sus...

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Main Authors: Kristensson, Mikaela, Pettersson, Sandra
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Jönköping University, JIBS Entrepreneurship Centre 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-52869
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spelling ndltd-UPSALLA1-oai-DiVA.org-hj-528692021-06-29T05:30:52ZMoving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative TransitionengKristensson, MikaelaPettersson, SandraJönköping University, JIBS Entrepreneurship Centre2021Organizational changeChange agentsRegenerative sustainabilityRegenerative changeBusiness AdministrationFöretagsekonomiBackground: Climate change has become the most pressing challenge of our time. Current business approaches to sustainability are instrumental that may portray sustainability as a source of corporate profit rather than acting for change beyond mitigation and adaptation. A regenerative approach to sustainability challenges current practices and aims to create and strengthen environmental and social well-being. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of how change agents can be a part of a regenerative sustainability transition. This is done by investigating the attitudes of change agents to such a transition. The aim is to contribute to theoretical and practical implications of organizational change theory, addressing the phenomena of organizational regenerative sustainability. Method: The paradigm of this study is of critical realist nature with an exploratory research design. An abductive model inspired the research approach, and semi-structured interviews were performed to collect primary data. A thematic analysis was then performed to draw conclusions from this study. Results: The analysis uncovered both welcoming and reluctant attitudes toward a regenerative transition. The welcoming attitudes were inherently more optimistic toward a regenerative transition, whereas change agents with reluctant attitudes identified more challenges and barriers for implementing a regenerative transition simultaneously as their perspectives were more business-centered. When weighing the evidence, it appears that the welcoming attitudes are relatively more likely to have a positive impact on implementing regenerative change as well as succeed with the initiation. Student thesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesistexthttp://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-52869application/pdfinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
collection NDLTD
language English
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Organizational change
Change agents
Regenerative sustainability
Regenerative change
Business Administration
Företagsekonomi
spellingShingle Organizational change
Change agents
Regenerative sustainability
Regenerative change
Business Administration
Företagsekonomi
Kristensson, Mikaela
Pettersson, Sandra
Moving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative Transition
description Background: Climate change has become the most pressing challenge of our time. Current business approaches to sustainability are instrumental that may portray sustainability as a source of corporate profit rather than acting for change beyond mitigation and adaptation. A regenerative approach to sustainability challenges current practices and aims to create and strengthen environmental and social well-being. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of how change agents can be a part of a regenerative sustainability transition. This is done by investigating the attitudes of change agents to such a transition. The aim is to contribute to theoretical and practical implications of organizational change theory, addressing the phenomena of organizational regenerative sustainability. Method: The paradigm of this study is of critical realist nature with an exploratory research design. An abductive model inspired the research approach, and semi-structured interviews were performed to collect primary data. A thematic analysis was then performed to draw conclusions from this study. Results: The analysis uncovered both welcoming and reluctant attitudes toward a regenerative transition. The welcoming attitudes were inherently more optimistic toward a regenerative transition, whereas change agents with reluctant attitudes identified more challenges and barriers for implementing a regenerative transition simultaneously as their perspectives were more business-centered. When weighing the evidence, it appears that the welcoming attitudes are relatively more likely to have a positive impact on implementing regenerative change as well as succeed with the initiation.
author Kristensson, Mikaela
Pettersson, Sandra
author_facet Kristensson, Mikaela
Pettersson, Sandra
author_sort Kristensson, Mikaela
title Moving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative Transition
title_short Moving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative Transition
title_full Moving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative Transition
title_fullStr Moving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative Transition
title_full_unstemmed Moving Beyond Sustainability : Change Agents Perceptions on a Regenerative Transition
title_sort moving beyond sustainability : change agents perceptions on a regenerative transition
publisher Jönköping University, JIBS Entrepreneurship Centre
publishDate 2021
url http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-52869
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