Journal of Business Ethics· 2026Q1
Objects as Means of Sustainability Knowledge Co-Creation: Working on Value-Laden Issues Across the Research-Practice Boundary
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Boundary objects, such as physical artifacts or shared documents, facilitate sustainability knowledge co-creation between researchers and practitioners by initiating dialogue, providing a shared space for collaboration, and motivating participation despite ethical concerns.
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Key points
- Boundary objects facilitate sustainability knowledge co-creation between researchers and practitioners.
- Boundary objects initiate dialogue on complex sustainability issues by conveying clarity.
- These objects provide a physical realm for co-creation in value-laden domains.
- Boundary objects motivate participation by offering instrumental and intrinsic learning value.
- Findings challenge the ambiguity-clarity tension, foregrounding clarity's role in initiating dialogue.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract The negative sustainability impacts of business keep escalating despite the profusion of research-based evidence regarding problems and solution pathways. Sustainability knowledge is complex and value-laden, thus often difficult to act upon. Co-creation between researchers and practitioners stands as a fruitful means of making sustainability knowledge more actionable, yet we lack insight into what motivates and facilitates sustainability knowledge co-creation. Boundary objects, which assist collaboration among diverse groups, can facilitate knowledge co-creation between researchers and practitioners, but little is known of their workings in the context of tackling value-laden sustainability issues. Based on rich qualitative data from two empirical cases, we examine how boundary objects motivate and facilitate knowledge co-creation between practitioners and researchers, helping to make sustainability knowledge more actionable. Our analysis illuminates three main dynamics whereby boundary objects do so: boundary objects initiate dialogue on complex issues through conveying clarity, provide a physical realm for co-creation in a value-laden domain, and motivate participation despite ethical vulnerability. These insights elaborate and challenge previous research regarding the boundary object ambiguity-clarity tension in the context of sustainability knowledge co-creation among diverse actor groups. Specifically, our findings foreground boundary object clarity, rather than ambiguity, in helping to initiate dialogue on complex sustainability issues. Furthermore, our analysis extends understanding of participant motivations to engage in sustainability knowledge co-creation, indicating that objects provide instrumental value and more intrinsic learning value, as well as help parties be with ethical vulnerability induced by knowledge co-creation around value-laden issues.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Business Ethics, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting