Organisational Value Frames and Sustainable Alliance Portfolios

Abstract

This thesis develops two constructs: organisational value frames and sustainable alliance portfolios. It does so by introducing five separate papers. The first paper seeks to understand why different organisations perceive sustainability differently and how they prioritise the creation of economic, environmental and social value in their sustainability initiatives. The first paper systematically reviews the frames and logics in the context of sustainability. It shows that there are three categories of value frames: dogmatic (economic, environmental, social), instrumental (economic, social and ecological) and paradoxical. The second paper builds a conceptual model of dynamic interactions between frames at individual, organisational and societal levels. This paper shows that while isomorphism pushes higher-order frames down to lower-order frames, framing pulls lower-order frames up. The third paper develops the notion of sustainable alliance portfolios. It builds a conceptual bridge between organisational value frames and sustainable alliance portfolios, meaning it shows how, depending on their value frames, firms configure, develop and manage their sustainability-oriented alliances. Two of these areas, configuration and the development of sustainable alliance portfolios, are further addressed empirically by the fourth and fifth papers. The fourth paper demonstrates empirical evidence from 16 electric utilities in Great Britain. It shows that the structural configuration of sustainable alliance portfolios in terms of partner diversity varies depending on utilities' value frames. This means that firms with similar value frames show structural similarities in their sustainable alliance portfolios. Hence, the results provide a new understanding: value frames are the basis of value homophily, which motivates firms to choose sustainability partners that are alike in terms of value creation priorities. The fifth paper is a single longitudinal case study of a European electric utility, EnergyCo. The case of EnergyCo shows that value frames and sustainable alliance portfolios develop through dynamic interactions. While the fourth paper takes a snapshot of value frames and sustainable alliance portfolios, the fifth paper takes a video that captures the emergence of business and sustainability strategy, value frames and sustainable alliance portfolios in relationship with a firms' external and internal environment. Overall, the thesis contributes to a greater understanding of the cognition-action link by showing the role of value frames on inter-organisational sustainability action.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Khaleel Malik (Supervisor) & Michael Hodson (Supervisor)