The Legitimacy–Commitment Paradox in Corporate Sustainability Strategy Formulation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Researchers have long problematised the gap between corporations' formulated sustainability strategies and their actual contributions to sustainability. This study draws on 24 months of real‐time observations in a multinational company to explore the origins of this gap in the formulation phase of corporate sustainability (CS) strategy. The findings show that contradictory logics and processes related to (a) gaining external legitimacy and (b) mobilising internal commitment impose paradoxical demands on the formulation process. Strategy makers tackled these tensions through rhetorical ambiguity and temporal separation. However, while these paradox management strategies facilitated coping with conflicting demands and avoiding deadlocks in the formulation process, they also created a commitment vacuum that undermined implementation. This study highlights the role of the formulation phase as an overlooked origin of implementation failure. The findings nuance our understanding of defensive and proactive paradox responses and call for further examination of the unintended outcomes of paradox responses.

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