IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p8073-d597498.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preparing an Organization for Sustainability Transitions—The Making of Boundary Spanners through Design Training

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Yström

    (Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, 583 30 Linköping, Sweden)

  • Marine Agogué

    (Department of Management, HEC Montréal, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada)

  • Romain Rampa

    (Department of Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship, IAE Grenoble, 38400 Grenoble, France)

Abstract

Organizations today need to adapt their operations for a more sustainable future, and the transition management literature has highlighted the need for individuals who can collaborate with others to find new paths forward. Essentially, these individuals are boundary spanners with specific skills and competences to bridge diverging perspectives and facilitate knowledge dissemination and integration. Such individuals become critical change agents in organizations and essential in preparing the organization for sustainability transitions. The purpose of this study is to explore how organizations can enable and encourage individuals to take on this role and develop the skills and competences needed to become boundary spanners. Based on a case study set in a large Canadian energy corporation striving to shift towards more sustainable operations, our paper explores the emergence of boundary spanners, focusing on the effects of a design training program in supporting such roles in the organization. Our findings outline essential characteristics of boundary spanners; through illustrative career trajectories of four individuals participating in the training program, we show how the training program contributed to the emergence of boundary spanners.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Yström & Marine Agogué & Romain Rampa, 2021. "Preparing an Organization for Sustainability Transitions—The Making of Boundary Spanners through Design Training," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-17, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:8073-:d:597498
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/8073/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/8073/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roberto Hernández-Chea & Akriti Jain & Nancy M. P. Bocken & Anjula Gurtoo, 2021. "The Business Model in Sustainability Transitions: A Conceptualization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, May.
    2. Shambu Prasad Chebrolu & Deborah Dutta, 2021. "Managing Sustainable Transitions: Institutional Innovations from India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Ahson Javaid & Amna Javed & Youji Kohda, 2019. "Exploring the Role of Boundary Spanning towards Service Ecosystem Expansion: A Case of Careem in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-27, July.
    4. Maria Luisa Lode & Geert te Boveldt & Cathy Macharis & Thierry Coosemans, 2021. "Application of Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis for Transition Management in Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Smink, Magda & Negro, Simona O. & Niesten, Eva & Hekkert, Marko P., 2015. "How mismatching institutional logics hinder niche–regime interaction and how boundary spanners intervene," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 225-237.
    6. Niko Schäpke & Ines Omann & Julia M. Wittmayer & Frank Van Steenbergen & Mirijam Mock, 2017. "Linking Transitions to Sustainability: A Study of the Societal Effects of Transition Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-36, May.
    7. María Elena López Reyes & Willem A. Zwagers & Ingrid J. Mulder, 2020. "Considering the Human-Dimension to Make Sustainable Transitions Actionable," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-25, October.
    8. Wendy Chapple & Petra Molthan-Hill & Rachel Welton & Michael Hewitt, 2020. "Lights Off, Spot On: Carbon Literacy Training Crossing Boundaries in the Television Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 813-834, April.
    9. Aurore Haas, 2015. "Crowding at the frontier: boundary spanners, gatekeepers and knowledge brokers," Post-Print hal-02313832, HAL.
    10. Hölscher, Katharina & Wittmayer, Julia M. & Avelino, Flor & Giezen, Mendel, 2019. "Opening up the transition arena: An analysis of (dis)empowerment of civil society actors in transition management in cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 176-185.
    11. Kivimaa, Paula & Kern, Florian, 2016. "Creative destruction or mere niche support? Innovation policy mixes for sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 205-217.
    12. Arwin van Buuren & Derk Loorbach, 2009. "Policy innovation in isolation?," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 375-392, May.
    13. Andrew M. Pettigrew, 1990. "Longitudinal Field Research on Change: Theory and Practice," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(3), pages 267-292, August.
    14. Ryan, Annmarie & O’Malley, Lisa, 2016. "The role of the boundary spanner in bringing about innovation in cross-sector partnerships," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-9.
    15. Jan Rotmans & Derk Loorbach, 2009. "Complexity and Transition Management," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(2), pages 184-196, April.
    16. Pascal Le Masson & Benoit Weil & Armand Hatchuel, 2010. "Strategic Management of Design and Innovation," Post-Print hal-00696953, HAL.
    17. Hannah Saldert, 2021. "Spanning Boundaries Between Policy and Practice: Strategic Urban Planning in Gothenburg, Sweden," Planning Theory & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 397-413, May.
    18. Elizabeth Shove & Gordon Walker, 2007. "Caution! Transitions Ahead: Politics, Practice, and Sustainable Transition Management," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(4), pages 763-770, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sushil & Periyasami Anbarasan, 2021. "Organization’s Sustainable Operational Complexity and Strategic Overview: TISM Approach and Asian Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-32, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Luisa Lode & Geert te Boveldt & Cathy Macharis & Thierry Coosemans, 2021. "Application of Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis for Transition Management in Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Cheng Wang & Tao Lv & Rongjiang Cai & Jianfeng Xu & Liya Wang, 2022. "Bibliometric Analysis of Multi-Level Perspective on Sustainability Transition Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-31, March.
    3. Giorgia Silvestri & Julia M. Wittmayer & Karlijn Schipper & Robinah Kulabako & Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng & Philip Nyenje & Hans Komakech & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Transition Management for Improving the Sustainability of WASH Services in Informal Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Catia Milena Lopes & Annibal José Scavarda & Mauricio Nunes Macedo de Carvalho & André Luis Korzenowski, 2018. "The Business Model and Innovation Analyses: The Sustainable Transition Obstacles and Drivers for the Hospital Supply Chains," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Sampsa Hyysalo & Jani Lukkarinen & Paula Kivimaa & Raimo Lovio & Armi Temmes & Mikael Hildén & Tatu Marttila & Karoliina Auvinen & Sofi Perikangas & Allu Pyhälammi & Janne Peljo & Kaisa Savolainen & L, 2019. "Developing Policy Pathways: Redesigning Transition Arenas for Mid-range Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Bjerkan, Kristin Ystmark & Seter, Hanne, 2021. "Policy and politics in energy transitions. A case study on shore power in Oslo," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    7. Kuokkanen, A. & Nurmi, A. & Mikkilä, M. & Kuisma, M. & Kahiluoto, H. & Linnanen, L., 2018. "Agency in regime destabilization through the selection environment: The Finnish food system’s sustainability transition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1513-1522.
    8. Attila Havas & Doris Schartinger & K. Matthias Weber, 2022. "Innovation Studies, Social Innovation, and Sustainability Transitions Research: From mutual ignorance towards an integrative perspective?," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2227, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    9. Edmondson, Duncan L. & Kern, Florian & Rogge, Karoline S., 2019. "The co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems: Towards a conceptual framework of policy mix feedback in sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    10. John Harlow & Erik Johnston & Eric Hekler & Zoë Yeh, 2018. "Fostering Sustainability Transitions by Designing for the Convergence of Policy Windows and Transition Arenas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-19, August.
    11. Paula Kivimaa & Wouter Boon & Sampsa Hyysalo & Laurens Klerkx, 2017. "Towards a Typology of Intermediaries in Transitions: a Systematic Review," SPRU Working Paper Series 2017-17, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    12. Li He & Yang Cheng & Xuejie Su, 2020. "Research on the Sustainability of the Enterprise Business Ecosystem from the Perspective of Boundary: The China Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-16, August.
    13. Pel, Bonno & Raven, Rob & van Est, Rinie, 2020. "Transitions governance with a sense of direction: synchronization challenges in the case of the dutch ‘Driverless Car’ transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    14. Manning, Stephan & Reinecke, Juliane, 2016. "A modular governance architecture in-the-making: How transnational standard-setters govern sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 618-633.
    15. Zolfagharian, Mohammadreza & Walrave, Bob & Raven, Rob & Romme, A. Georges L., 2019. "Studying transitions: Past, present, and future," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    16. Ossenbrink, Jan & Finnsson, Sveinbjoern & Bening, Catharina R. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2019. "Delineating policy mixes: Contrasting top-down and bottom-up approaches to the case of energy-storage policy in California," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    17. Contesse, Maria & Duncan, Jessica & Legun, Katharine & Klerkx, Laurens, 2021. "Unravelling non-human agency in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    18. Niko Schäpke & Ines Omann & Julia M. Wittmayer & Frank Van Steenbergen & Mirijam Mock, 2017. "Linking Transitions to Sustainability: A Study of the Societal Effects of Transition Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-36, May.
    19. Andra Blumberga & Gatis Bazbauers & Selina Vancane & Ivars Ijabs & Jurijs Nikisins & Dagnija Blumberga, 2021. "Unintended Effects of Energy Efficiency Policy: Lessons Learned in the Residential Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-31, November.
    20. Turnheim, Bruno & Geels, Frank W., 2019. "Incumbent actors, guided search paths, and landmark projects in infra-system transitions: Re-thinking Strategic Niche Management with a case study of French tramway diffusion (1971–2016)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1412-1428.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:8073-:d:597498. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.