Exploring Differing Perspectives on Sustainability and Corresponding Strategies in German Automotive Companies

In addition to acute crises dominating the societal discourse, such as the global consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world continues to face the ongoing challenge of limiting climate change and achieving a sustainable transformation. Yet, in public discourse, the widely used terms “sustainability” and “transformation” are not clearly defined, and the understanding varies greatly depending on the industry and the stakeholders considered. One important transformation arena lies within the German automotive industry, as it is one of the country’s biggest industrial sectors by revenue and the number of employees. In addition, the German automotive industry is currently going through a transition period due to the switch to electric drivetrains as the main propulsion technology opposed to combustion engines. Therefore, the following paper identifies the differing understandings of sustainability and according actions in the German automotive industry. Moreover, possible conflicts and prioritizations along the economic, ecological, and social dimensions of sustainability are presented based on an expert interview study. To do so, a structuring qualitative content analysis in combination with a descriptive approach was used focusing on the differing perspectives on sustainability of both the interviewees and their companies. The gathered data then allows to compare the aggregated individual and corporate sustainability perspectives in the German automotive industry, as well as comparing the sustainability perspectives of the interviewees and their respective companies case by case. The results suggest that there is a considerable discrepancy between individual and corporate understandings of sustainability. These differences can mainly be attributed to the companies’ economically driven views in contrast to the individuals’, mostly ecologically driven sustainability perspective. Moreover, several barriers and conflicts, rooted in the prioritization of economic gains, can be traced back to conflicts in the supplier pyramid. The identification of common transformation goals and measures among companies is necessary to enable a collaborative, sustainable transformation in the German automotive industry, which benefits all societal stakeholders in or attached to this sector.