Open this publication in new window or tab >>2022 (English)In: Culture and Organization, ISSN 1475-9551, E-ISSN 1477-2760, Vol. 28, no 1, p. 79-96Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
This paper uses the notion of material affordances to show that a focus on how people engage with materials helps understanding how organizations transit toward sustainability. Material affordances refer to the enablements and constraints afforded by materials to someone engaging with an environment for a particular purpose. Based on a qualitative study of a company's efforts at becoming circular, we show that material affordances are evolutive as organizational members shift focus from the development of products to the establishment of a circular business model. We also show that affordances are distributed across the company's circular ecosystem. Between what they enable and prevent, they invite humans to a dynamic engagement with materials that decenters human agencies to incorporate material agency in such efforts. A key contribution of the notion of material affordances is to put the relationships of humans and materials at the core of a transition toward circularity and sustainability.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2022
Keywords
Affordance, Circular business model, Circular products, Materials, Organizational environmental sustainability
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-189479 (URN)10.1080/14759551.2021.1986506 (DOI)000706239300001 ()2-s2.0-85118294221 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2019-00520Vinnova, 2016-05143,2017-03166
Note
First published online: 11 Oct 2021
2021-11-122021-11-122021-12-30Bibliographically approved