Forward-looking sustainability agency for developing future cruise ships

Leena Jokinen, Tuire Palonen, Helka Kalliomäki, Oana Apostol, Katariina Heikkilä

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The study addressed sharing of futures insights as a component of sustainability agency for long-term company enhancement in an interorganizational shipbuilders’ network. The purpose was to analyze social structures under “agency” terminology. This joint sustainability project involved a partnership of firms, academia, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) actors in collaborative cruise ship building. The study adapted a mixed method approach where social network analysis (SNA) was enriched with other contextual data to make network data more applicable and accessible. The results revealed a loose and thin network structure, with relatively high trust among network actors. The network’s social structure was found to facilitate insight sharing. Lead firm actors clearly played a central role in enhancing sustainability, and the researchers, as well as industrial association actors, made a significant contribution to insight sharing and transmission. The findings suggest that the case network would benefit from an open and balanced social structure that incorporates a number of insight brokers to enhance forward-looking sustainability agency (F-L SA). Futures insight sharing enhances agency in the context of joint sustainability actions and improves capacity to respond to systemic challenges. Understanding how proactive agency can be promoted in network settings strengthens strategic aspects of managerial practice and contributes to discourse around sustainability agency.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9644
Number of pages20
JournalSustainability
Volume12
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2020
Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

Funding: This research was partly funded by Business Finland, grant number 2180/31/2017. Oana Apostol acknowledges the financial support from the Academy of Finland research project (decision no. 324215) under the leadership of Eija Vinnari.

Keywords

  • Cruise ship building
  • Forward-looking
  • Future
  • Social network analysis
  • Sustainability agency

Publication forum classification

  • Publication forum level 1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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