Modeling Corporate Sustainability Change: A Deweyan Pragmatist Alternative
Corver F, Filler M (2026)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2026
Journal
DOI: 10.1177/26317877261467772
Abstract
Progressing toward corporate sustainability requires organizational change, but how should we conceptualize its nature and dynamics? To date, the literature has modeled corporate change processes primarily through prescriptive notions of sustainability transformation. By treating sustainability problems as externally defined precursors to internally driven organizational responses, this approach reflects a conception of knowledge production that overemphasizes the role of models as finished products and struggles to account for the lived practice of corporate sustainability change. Specifically, we identify two core problems inherent in existing sustainability change models: a representational-adequacy problem and a knowledge-transfer problem. In response, we develop a Deweyan pragmatist conception of corporate sustainability change in which problem descriptions and experimental problem solving are dynamically co-constituted through situated, open-ended processes. Building on this reconceptualization, we propose a pragmatic modeling approach grounded in a co-creative inquiry between scholars and practitioners aimed at producing actionable knowledge for organizational sustainability problem solving. We outline how the activities of model construction and model use are deeply intertwined and point to a complex set of modeling actions in support of the collective pursuit of corporate sustainability change.
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Netherlands (NL)How to cite
APA:
Corver, F., & Filler, M. (2026). Modeling Corporate Sustainability Change: A Deweyan Pragmatist Alternative. Organization Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/26317877261467772
MLA:
Corver, Fabian, and Manon Filler. "Modeling Corporate Sustainability Change: A Deweyan Pragmatist Alternative." Organization Theory (2026).
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