Corporate sustainable transformation as understood and enacted by sustainability managers: insights from Germany’s financial industry

Purpose Sustainability managers have been highlighted as having a critical role in achieving corporate sustainable transformation, but there is limited insight about their understanding and responsibilities of this process. This study aims to address this lacuna by exploring sustainability managers’ understanding of corporate sustainable transformation and their roles in the sustainable transformation process in the German financial industry. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from a panel of 28 experienced sustainability managers working for German financial institutions engaged in corporate sustainable transformation. A qualitative grounded Delphi method was used to reach a consensus on how sustainability managers understand corporate sustainable transformation and their responsibilities in the transformation process. Findings The findings reveal that sustainability managers understand corporate sustainable transformation as a strategic, holistic process that fundamentally reconfigures the entire corporate entity, which is distinct from narrower notions of sustainability change or development. The research found that sustainability managers’ responsibilities during the transformation process were both strategic and operational. They involved developing and implementing sustainability strategies, communicating and coordinating collaboration with internal stakeholders to promote a sustainable corporate culture, and to support knowledge transfer within the company. This required engaging in cross-functional exchange and reporting to management, monitoring and reporting on sustainability performance, and steering the company to meet regulatory requirements and sustainability goals while balancing long-term profitability and competitiveness. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by providing a deeper understanding as to sustainability managers’ perspectives and responsibilities in practice under real-world constraints, within the financial industry which has been identified as a driver for corporate sustainability. This address responds to calls for further research to explore the important yet under researched role of sustainability managers. By capturing their lived experiences, this study offers a practitioner-centred perspective on how sustainable transformation is interpreted, operationalised and enacted in practice. In doing so, it advances a new analytical framing of the sustainability manager’s role and enriches ongoing theoretical and empirical debates on the mechanisms of organisational change towards sustainability.