The Role of Sensemaking and Organizational Identification in Employee Engagement for Sustainability

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study examines how sensemaking and organizational identification occur inside an organization and how they can affect how employees engage in managing for sustainability. Qualitative data suggest a positive effect of organizational identification on support for sustainability goals and actions and, conversely, how individual sustainability actions may in turn increase organizational identification. The findings from interviews of a sample of eight companies reveal many different goals, challenges, and means of seeking sustainability. Analysis points toward the dynamics of cognitive and emotional processing across this diverse sample, suggesting implications for practitioners and further research.

KEYWORDS:

• Sensemaking
• organizational identification
• sustainability
• employee engagement
• social psychology of sustainability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Some thoughtful companies do not even use the term “sustainability,” but prefer to engage with these and related issues under the rubric of “corporate social responsibility” or focus management around “ESG” – environmental, social, and governance concerns. For convenience, this paper will refer to all these framings as simply “sustainability.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kent D. Fairfield

Kent D. Fairfield, recently retired, was Associate Professor of Management at the Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University. His research centers on the management of sustainability, management pedagogy, and team effectiveness. Formerly a business manager and consultant, he has championed and published on service-learning. For 15 years, he taught the management of sustainability, team effectiveness, and leadership, emphasizing personal development and effectiveness. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in social and organizational psychology at Teachers College, Columbia, as well as an MBA at the Harvard Business School. He can be reached at [email protected].