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Sustainability issues, such as climate change, have increasingly been studied in relation to business model types (BMTs), that is generic ways of creating and capturing value. Although research on this topic is extensive, it has largely overlooked the question of how BMTs come to be viewed as sustainable and lacks the theoretical vocabulary needed to adequately explore this question. Addressing it is critical because these BMTs play a key role in shaping firm behavior by serving as a source of legitimacy and working as templates on which firms can draw. Moreover, it is important because a BMT being viewed as sustainable is not necessarily the same as being sustainable. Consequently, BMTs can contribute positively or negatively to addressing sustainability issues through the way they shape the behavior of firms.

In my licentiate, I advance the understanding of how BMTs come to be viewed as sustainable. I do this through a systematic integrative review, conceptual development, and a case-study of the BMT Circular business model in the Swedish apparel industry. Through these methods, I make two main theoretical contributions. First, I improve the theoretical vocabulary related to how BMTs come to be viewed as sustainable, by refining existing concepts, particularly BMT, and introducing a conceptualization of "being viewed as sustainable". Second, I improve the understanding of what practices actors take and why they matter, by identifying six discursive practices and proposing three related mechanisms. I contribute to practitioners by emphasizing the need for greater reflexivity in assessing why certain BMTs are viewed as sustainable, and by providing a discursive toolbox.