Voices from the ground: The lived experiences of a community involved in a corporate sustainability initiative

The importance of corporate sustainability as an integral part of business operations is well established. However, existing discourse focuses on organisational practices and reporting, leaving a gap in understanding how corporate sustainability initiatives are experienced by the communities they aim to benefit. Demonstrating sustainability is typically achieved when corporates embed it into practices conveyed through corporate communication channels such as integrated and sustainability reports and corporate websites. While these public displays signal organisational commitment, they do not necessarily capture the lived realities of all stakeholders. Addressing this gap, this study explored the lived experiences of a rural South African community involved in a corporate-funded agricultural sustainability initiative, intending to amplify community voices and examine how these stakeholders understand, adapt to, and engage with such initiatives. To understand the essence of these shared experiences, a phenomenological research strategy was adopted to extract meaningful first-hand accounts of how corporate sustainability was experienced by the community. The empirical data was thematically analysed using inductive analysis to derive the themes discussed in this article. By foregrounding community perspectives, the study contributes to sustainability scholarship by revealing the relational dynamics and practical implications of corporate-community partnerships. Findings highlight that community members were empowered by the initiative and confirmed the interdependence between the corporate, the community-based organisation, and the community members. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that stakeholder inclusion in decision-making is not merely desirable but critical, as it facilitates meaningful engagement and the embeddedness of sustainability.