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Purpose: In this chapter we examine the emotional experience and identity of sustainability change agents and advance understanding of their emotion management strategies. We explore how sustainability change agents experience, manage, and respond to the negative emotions that arise in the course of their jobs. Study Design: We took a mixed-method and multimodal approach to answer our research questions. Using a narrative approach, we collected data using in-depth narrative interviews and supplemented this with quantitative measurement of participants' heart rate and sweat response during the interviews. Findings: Our results confirm that sustainability change agency is an emotionally laden profession. Furthermore, we found that sustainability change agents use three different coping mechanisms including emotion-focused coping (EFC) (“rational avoiders”), problem-focused coping (PFC) (“committed go-getters”), and meaning-focused coping (MFC) (“green philosophers”). Originality: Our research shows that sustainability change agents experienced strong negative emotions in relation to their jobs and they employed one of the three coping styles: EFC, PFC, or MFC. We found that MFC was an isolated cognitive appraisal style, rather than a form of EFC. These findings provide a starting point for further work to help sustainability change agents avoid potential burnout and continue to contribute to the future health of the planet while at the same time maintain their personal well-being.

In this paper the authors aim to examine the dominance of machine and organism metaphors in organisational studies. They argue that these metaphors impede progress towards sustainable development because they perpetuate a story that dehumanises and de‐prioritises humans at the expense of the organisation which in turn becomes a rarefied and prioritised subject. This result is not consistent with the whole of humanity narrative that is entwined within sustainable development. To develop these arguments, the authors discuss sustainable development, highlighting how the concept implicates the central role of humans. They then discuss the limitations of the machine and organism metaphors relative to sustainable development. The paper then offers a different view of metaphors and suggests a more holistic understanding that is compatible with the achievement of sustainable development.

As a conceptual paper, this article reviews existing literature and offers critique of the use of the dominant metaphors of machine and organism.

Machine and organism metaphors perpetuate a language and understanding that dehumanises work and organisations. The implication of this is that organisational practice and research needs to adopt new metaphors to facilitate sustainable development.

As a conceptual document, this manuscript offers new avenues for future research and practice.

The arguments presented challenge scholars', educators' and practitioners' use of machine and organism metaphors when discussing organisations.

The originality/value of this paper lies in reflecting upon the metaphors of organism and machine relative to sustainable development and in turn reflecting upon the metaphors associated with and the central role of humans within the sustainable development concept.

This paper aims to explore the concept of sustainable development through the lens of two United Nations (UN) publications, Our Common Future (1987) and the 25-year update Resilient People: Resilient Planet (2012). The analysis attempts to highlight how sustainable development requires a systemic understanding and this in turn necessitates an imperative of responsibility. To reinforce its case, the paper highlights how sustainable development has never been about saving the environment and to think so is naïve. In the final analysis, the paper outlines how a systemic understanding is a key concern for organisational leaders and in turn a responsible understanding of humanity's entwinement with, rather than separation from, all that surrounds us.

This paper is a discussion paper that weaves together existing literature.

The aim of the paper is to reinforce systemic thinking and an imperative of responsibility.

The arguments offered highlight how systemic thinking and the associated responsibility that comes with this view are necessary for realising sustainable outcomes.

Weaving together and reinforcing arguments that highlight systemic thinking and responsibility.

In this chapter we argue for further research that examines the role of the individual in addressing environmental issues. We review current research that examines emotionality as it relates to issues of the natural environment and identify disparate findings in the literature. In order to integrate findings from environmental psychology and management we draw on the theories of issue ownership, and organizational identification as a frame with which to examine emotionality and pro-environmental behavior in organizations. In doing so, we put forward a conceptual model and testable propositions as a basis for future research.

The aim of this paper is to examine the narratives of acceptance and resistance to the introduction of corporate environmentalism. Despite recognition that managers and senior executives play a primary role in corporate environmentalism, relatively few researchers have examined how top management supports, accepts, negotiates, disregards, or rejects the implementation of corporate environmentalism within their organization. By considering how members of a top management team reflect on corporate environmentalism the aim is to examine potential identity management conflicts that arise during the implementation of environmentally sustainable initiatives within organizations.

A qualitative approach was adopted to address the research aims. By taking this approach the paper examines the lived experience of the participants as they internalized corporate environmentalism as part of their identity and as part of the organizational identity. Data collection involved 15 semi‐structured interviews with senior executives and board members of a large Australian hospital.

Based on an in‐depth thematic analysis of interview transcripts, it was found that individuals attributed a dominant discourse to corporate environmentalism based on their lived experience of organizational change for sustainability. Six dominant discourses were identified. Three were resistant to corporate environmentalism: the pragmatist, the traditionalist, and the observer; and three were supportive of corporate environmentalism: the technocentrist, holist, and ecopreneur.

The findings demonstrate that although top management operated in and experienced the same organizational context, the narratives and identities they constructed in relation to sustainability varied widely. These findings emphasize the challenges inherent in developing an organizational identity that incorporates sustainability principles and the need for change management strategies to appeal to the diverse values and priorities of organizational managers and executives.

Purpose: This introduction sets the stage for the book theme, “Emotions and Negativity,” by reviewing the early work on negative emotions and by discussing the impact of the COVID pandemic on people’s moods and emotions. It discusses how most of the chapters in this book were first presented as conference papers at the Twelfth International Conference on Emotions and Worklife (“Emonet XII”). It then highlights the key contributions from each of the chapters. Study Design/Methodology/Approach: This gives an overview of the organizational structure of the book and explains the four major parts of the book. It then relates each chapter to the theme of each part and discusses the key contributions of each chapter. Findings: The introduction concludes by observing that the chapters offer a variety of practical solutions to negative emotions that should be of use to both practitioners and academicians. Originality/Value: The chapters investigate underresearched topics, and thus make original and important new contributions. Although underresearched, the topics they explore have a major impact on people’s lives. Thus, these chapters add considerable value to the field.