The Role of Individual Beliefs for Corporate Sustainability Transformations

ABSTRACT This study finds that a classification system of beliefs—action logics—is suitable to understand the beliefs held by sustainability managers. Beliefs underpin individual behavior and can substantially influence how businesses behave. We present what beliefs are held by corporate sustainability managers through a qualitative research design. We show how individual beliefs, as building blocks of individual behavior, are linked to the implementation challenges related to corporate goals and processes that must be addressed to move beyond business‐as‐usual with corporate sustainability transformation. Our study finds that the advanced action logics of Strategist and Alchemist are most suitable for effecting a corporate sustainability transformation. Enablers for individuals to be more ethical and effective sustainability managers are proposed, with the view to encourage the action logics of the Strategist and the Alchemist at the organizational and individual manager level and to speed up the implementation of corporate sustainability transformation activities. The enablers are the comprehensive integration of sustainability into the core business, creating safe corporate spaces for experimentation and reflection, encouraging new forms of collaboration within and outside the business.