THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

The Social Construction of Green Building Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives

ANN-CHARLOTTE STENBERG

Building Economics and Management Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gteborg, Sweden 2006

The Social Construction of Green Building Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives ANN-CHARLOTTE STENBERG ISBN 91-7291-760-1 Copyright Ann-Charlotte Stenberg, 2006 Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska hgskola Ny serie nr 2442 ISSN 0346-718X Building Economics and Management Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Chalmers University of Technology SE - 412 96 Gteborg Sweden Telephone +46 (0) 31 - 772 1000 Chalmers Reproservice Gteborg, Sweden 2006

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Abstract Although environmental issues have been on the agendas of governments, businesses and scientists for at least three decades, there still remain conceptual difficulties concerning what environment or green actually encompass. The concepts are in constant flux, shifting as actors who represent different social relevant groups struggle to find support for their specific interests. The overall aim of this research is to contribute new insight concerning the processes through which environmental issues are represented and given meaning in the Swedish building sector. To fulfill this purpose, three research questions have been formulated, all of them focusing on different organizational levels: how are environmental issues (1) framed? (2) made sense of?, and (3) acted upon? Furthermore, to understand the social construction of green building, the topic has been addressed from a diachronic and a synchronic perspective. The thesis draws on theories of social construction of technology, institutional change, travel of ideas, sensemaking and identity construction to explicate the qualitative empirical data, which is mainly collected through interviews, written documents, and field observations. Green building is a contested discursive terrain, where relevant groups struggle for the preferential right of interpretation of green. The plurality of meanings enacted in several distinct logics can result in widely differing problem formulations and contradictory solutions. On organizational level, contesting views may mobilize counter-action or non-action, which is destructive for strategic environmental work. The trade magazines bias towards technical measures and their proclivity toward traditional definitions regarding environmental impacts may lock practitioners into a technocratic logic. Environmental areas that are not formulated areas of key concern risk being taken for granted, i.e., being black-boxed. Accordingly, development within these areas may stagnate, especially since those who make strategic environmental decisions in the companies are not the same people who possess environmental expertise. For environmental issues to be enacted at all levels of a company, the environmental experts would need to be empowered with a decision-making mandate. To succeed, the environmental work has to be given adequate resources and also be legitimized by the business management. To conclude, there is no one true notion of green building. Instead, it is a social construct with multiple interpretations, which is not only a constraint, but may also function as a driver for change and development. Key words: Community of practice and action; Framing; Green building; Rhetorical community; Sensemaking; Social construction; Travel of ideas

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Acknowledgements During my Ph.D. studies several persons have supported and inspired me in different ways. Although I cannot name everyone, there are some persons for whom I would like to express my gratitude. First of all, I would like to thank all those involved in my empirical studies. Without the generous share of your time, experiences and knowledge there would not have been any research project at all. My warm and special thanks go to my main supervisor, Associate Professor Christine Risnen, for your tireless enthusiasm and support. I am so grateful that you took me on halfway through my Ph.D. studies. Working together with you has been a great experience, and you have the gift to lift me up and make me perform better than I thought I was capable of. Thanks also to Associate Professor Henrikke Baumann, for co-operation in the Barometern study, for constructive comments on the Trade Media study, and for stepping in as co-supervisor at the very end. Many thanks to my training companions Dr. Pernilla Gluch, the co-author of Paper II, and Dr. Paula Femenas for fruitful research co-operation. Thanks also to Professor Per-Erik Josephson for your encouragement and for believing in my research capability. Thanks to Senior Lecturer Anna Kadefors, the co-author of Paper I and the project leader of my doctoral project during the MISTRA Sustainable Building period. My thoughts also go to the late Professor Gsta Fredriksson, my former main supervisor who talked me into the scientific community by presenting highflying plans for me. Many thanks to Dr. Ann-Sofie Axelsson for your constructive comments on my manuscript, and for making the final seminar such an inspiring event. For proof-reading the final version of my manuscript, I thank Sven Gunnarson and Ingeborg Knauseder. Johan Bjrnstrm many thanks for the page-numbers and the excellent lunch-service! Thanks are also due to all present and previous colleagues at Building Economics and Management. Thank you: Mikael Frdell, Lasse Saukkoriipi, Peter Samuelsson, Gran Lindahl, Angela

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Fjordsten, Bengt Larsson, Roger Flanagan, Lena Schachinger, Agnetha Nordin, Ulrica Wallstrm, Anneli Linde, and Per-Olof Sverlinger. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my family and all my friends. Special thanks to mum and dad for always supporting me. Thanks also to my parents-in-law for helping me/us with everyday cares. Most of all I would like to thank the two most important people in my life: Magnus for your love and support, and for sharing your life and dreams with me, and Lisa for bringing me so much love and happiness, and for always reminding me of what is really important in life. This thesis was financially supported by MISTRA - the Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Formas - the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning, CMB - Centre for Management of the Built Environment, ke and Greta Lisshed Foundation, and Adlerbertska Research Foundation. Thank you all! Gteborg in Mars 2006 Ann-Charlotte Stenberg

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Appended papers This thesis is based on the following appended papers, referred to by Roman numerals I to VI in the text. I Procurement Practices and Innovation Processes: A Case Study of

Developer Competition for Green Building Stenberg, A.-C. and A. Kadefors (2000) In Information and Communication in Construction Procurement, Proceedings CIB W92 Procurement System Symposium, 24-27 April 2000, Santiago, Chile. (ed. A. Serpell), p. 767-782. Santiago: Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile.

II How do Trade Media Influence Green Building Practice? Gluch, P. and A.-C. Stenberg (2006) Building Research and Information, 34(2):104-117.

III The Social Construction of Green Building in the Swedish context Stenberg, A.-C. and C. Risnen (2006) Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. 8(1):67-85.

IV The Interpretative Flexibility of Green in the Building Sector: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives Stenberg, A.-C. and C. Risnen (2006) Forthcoming in International Studies of Management & Organization. Summer 36(2).

V In Quest of an Environmental Identity: The Story of a Housing Company Stenberg, A.-C. and C. Risnen (2006) Submitted to Scandinavian Journal of Management.

VI Green Ideas Traveling Across Organizational Boundaries Stenberg, A.-C. (2006) Submitted to Building Research and Information.

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Distribution of work I The paper is based on a field study of a developer competition for

ecological housing carried out between 1998 and 2000. Stenberg was responsible for the empirical data collection as well as the analysis and writing of a case report.

II The paper is based on a study of the Swedish building sector trade press and its role in communicating environmental information to practitioners within the building sector, accomplished between 2004 and 2005. Data collection for the qualitative part as well as design, analysis and writing of reports and papers was done in equal co-operation with Gluch. Gluch was responsible for the data collection in the quantitative part of the study.

III The paper is based on a literature study of the development of green ideas in the Swedish building sector. Stenberg was responsible for the data collection as well as analysis.

IV The paper is partly based on a literature study of the development of green ideas in the Swedish building sector, carried out by Stenberg. It is also based on a study of sensemaking in three municipal housing companies, accomplished in 2004. Stenberg was responsible for the data collection as well as analysis and writing of a case report.

V The paper is partly based on a study of sensemaking processes and practices in a municipal housing company, carried out in 2001 and 2004. It is also based on a Housing Companys study of environmental strategies in the same company, carried out in 2001. Stenberg was responsible for the data collection as well as analysis and writing of a case report.

VI The paper is based on a study of how green ideas travel across and within three municipal housing companies, carried out in 2004. Stenberg was responsible for the data collection as well as analysis and writing of a case report.

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Additional publications Conference papers [1] Stenberg, A.-C. and A. Kadefors (1999) Procurement for Ecological Housing: A Case Study of a Development Competition. In Proceedings of the Nordic Seminar on Construction Economics and Organization, 12-13 April, 1999, Gteborg, Sweden, pp. 113-120. Gteborg: Chalmers University of Technology. [2] Stenberg, A.-C. (2000) The Role of Procurement in the Development of Green Building: Experiences from a Swedish Developer Competition. Paper presented at the 16th EGOS Colloquium 2nd-4th of July 2000. Helsinki, Finland. [3] Stenberg, A.-C. (2001) Towards sustainability? Green Ideas in Swedish Construction. In Proceedings of the Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisation, 24-25 April, 2001, Gteborg, Sweden, pp. 37-44. Gteborg: Chalmers University of Technology. [4] Baumann, H., Brunklaus, B., Gluch, P., Kadefors, A., Stenberg, A.-C., Thuvander, L. and J. Widman (2002) Environmental drivers, management and results in Swedish building industry. A survey within the International Business Environmental Barometer. In Proceedings of International Conference of Sustainable Building 2002, 23-25 September, Oslo, Norway. [5] Stenberg, A.-C. (2003) Green Ideas in Swedish Construction. Towards Sustainability. Paper presented at the 19th EGOS Colloquium 3rd-5th of July 2003. Copenhagen, Denmark. [6] Stenberg, A.-C. and C. Risnen (2004) Communicating Environmental Information: Multiple Representations of Sustainability in Swedish Municipal Housing Companies. In proceedings of The 2004 Business Strategy and the Environment Conference, September 13th and 14th, University of Leeds, pp. 243-252. Leeds, UK.

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[7] Gluch, P. and A.-C. Stenberg (2005) The Image of Greening as Communicated by Trade Magazines. In Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, June 6-8, Finlandia Hall. Helsinki, Finland. [8] Stenberg, A.-C. (2005) Discursive Constructions of Ecological Sustainability: Using Environmental Commitment to set Boundaries and Enhance Organizational Identity. Paper presented at the 21st EGOS Colloquium, June 30-July 2, 2005. Berlin, Germany. Reports [9] Gluch, P., Stenberg, A.-C. and J. Birgersson (1998) TQM the Nordic Way - a Study of Environmental Management in Three Scandinavian Construction Companies. Conference report, Inst. fr Byggnadsekonomi, Chalmers Tekniska Hgskola, Sweden. [10] Gluch, P., Fredriksson, G. and A.-C. Stenberg (2000) Sustainable Development and Construction in Sweden, In Gluch, P. 2000. Managerial environmental accounting in construction projects: Discussions on its usability and role in decision making. Building Economics and Management. Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. [11] Stenberg, A.-C. (2000) Fallbeskrivning: Markanvisningstvling fr bostder med kretsloppstnkande, fastigheten Kikaren 8, Karlstad. Report. Gteborg: Chalmers University of Technology. [12] Baumann, H., Brunklaus, B., Gluch, P., Kadefors, A., Stenberg, A.-C., and L. Thuvander (2003) Byggsektorns miljbarometer. ESA Report 2003:2. Chalmers University of Technology. [13] Stenberg, A.-C. In prep. Fallbeskrivning: Utveckling av miljstrategier i tre kommunala bostadsbolag. Report. Gteborg: Chalmers University of Technology. [14] Gluch, P. and A.-C. Stenberg (2004) The Image of Green Building as Communicated by Swedish Trade Press. Report. Gteborg: Chalmers University if Technology.

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Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1

1.1 RESEARCH AIM ......................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS ................................................................................................. 6

2 FRAME OF REFERENCE.............................................................................................. 9 2.1 RELATED RESEARCH................................................................................................................. 9 2.2 APPLIED THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES.................................................................................... 12

2.2.1 Social construction (SCOT)..................................................................................... 13 2.2.2 Institutional change................................................................................................. 15 2.2.3 Travels of ideas ....................................................................................................... 16 2.2.4 Sensemaking and identity construction ................................................................... 18

3 METHOD ........................................................................................................................ 23 3.1 RESEARCH APPROACH ............................................................................................................ 23

3.1.1 Methodological stance ............................................................................................ 25 3.2 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ............................................................................................................ 25

3.2.1 The three-phase iterative multi-mode method ......................................................... 28 3.2.2 Field observations ................................................................................................... 30 3.2.3 Written documents................................................................................................... 31 3.2.4 Analysis ................................................................................................................... 32

4 RESULTS: APPENDED PAPERS................................................................................ 35 PROCUREMENT PRACTICES AND INNOVATION PROCESSES: A CASE STUDY OF A DEVELOPER COMPETITION FOR GREEN BUILDING............................................................................................. 39 4.1 SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS ON PAPER I .............................................................................. 51 HOW DO TRADE MEDIA INFLUENCE GREEN BUILDING PRACTICE? ............................................... 55 4.2 SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS ON PAPER II............................................................................. 77 THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GREEN BUILDING IN THE SWEDISH CONTEXT........................... 83 4.3 SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS ON PAPER III ......................................................................... 103 THE INTERPRETATIVE FLEXIBILITY OF GREEN IN THE BUILDING SECTOR: DIACHRONIC AND SYNCHRONIC PERSPECTIVES........................................................................................................ 107 4.4 SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS ON PAPER IV......................................................................... 125 IN QUEST OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL IDENTITY: THE STORY OF A HOUSING COMPANY ................. 129 4.5 SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS ON PAPER V........................................................................... 147 GREEN IDEAS TRAVELING ACROSS ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIES .......................................... 151 4.6 SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS ON PAPER VI ......................................................................... 169

5 GENERAL DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS.................................................... 171 5.1 DEALING WITH THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS........................................................................... 171

5.1.1 How are environmental issues framed? ................................................................ 172 5.1.2 How are environmental issues made sense of? ..................................................... 176 5.1.3 How are environmental issues acted upon? .......................................................... 178 5.1.4 Implications for society and science...................................................................... 181

5.2 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 182 REFERENCES................................................................................................................... 185

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1 Introduction

So [I] made a clear commitment to work on a task, a commitment whose full content was not grasped at the beginning. [I] gained deeper understanding of what that original decision involved when [I] started to work on that task. Closer attention to the task accompanied by increased effort revealed unsuspected attractions that were given additional substance and credibility by hard work. Hard work literally built the convincing reasons that justified the choice to participate [in the doctoral project] (Modified from Weick, 2001, p. 6).

Does it really make sense to spend several years trying to understand how environmental issues are framed, made sense of, and acted upon by organizations in the Swedish building sector? Some might perhaps agree, while others would most likely present counter-arguments. However, my decision to make a clear commitment to initiate Ph.D. studies emanated from sheer curiosity and a wish to gain a deeper understanding of how people grapple with and make sense of the everyday workings of organizations. To focus the research project on green ideas was not the result of deliberate action on my part, rather it arose by accident; or, more correctly, my research is a product of its time. When I entered the research arena, toward the end of the 1990s, the environmental discourse was highly inspired by the vocabulary in the Brundtland Report Our Common Future (WCED, 1987), and also the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. These two events strongly contributed to put environmental issues on the global as well as national political agendas (Hills and Man, 1998). The public debate on environmental issues also affected the Swedish building sector. Construction and the use of built facilities are responsible for a significant environmental impact on land, water, air, and human health. Approximately 40% of the total energy use, 40% of the total material use, and 40% of the

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generated man-made waste are attributed to the building sector (The Ecocycle Council of the Building Sector, 2003; CIB, 1999). Considering the economic market place, the sectors volume of investment amounts to approximately 7% of the Swedish Gross National Product. Approximately 10% of the Swedish workforce is involved in building-related activities such as construction and property management and maintenance (The Swedish Construction Federation, 2005). Accordingly, the building sector is one of the major branches of business in Sweden. Therefore, any endeavor towards attaining sustainable development, ecological, economic or social, has to involve the building sector. The 1990s witnessed an extensive growth in the number of trade magazine articles on green building.1 Until the peak in 1998, the overall picture given by the trade magazines was that green building to a large extent meant choosing the proper materials, developing and using a variety of tools, implementing different governmental measures, dealing with recycling and waste treatment issues, taking measures in order to reduce energy use, and reducing air emissions and the use of hazardous substances (Gluch and Stenberg, 2004). What was missing or at least less frequent in the trade magazine articles were, for example, behavioral perspectives of green building practices, intra-organizational issues and the meta-analytical question of how to communicate environmental information (Gluch and Stenberg, 2006). Within this context, a national research program, MISTRA Sustainable Building,2 first saw the light of day.

In the long-term, the program aims at producing a knowledge base to enable actors in the building and real estate industry to make environmentally sound decisions, and to implement such knowledge in practice. The overarching goal is to be an agent for sustainable development within the industry, in its efforts to minimize negative influence on the environment and to promote a long-term resource economy. (Sustainable Building: A MISTRA Program, 1997, p. 7)

The research program aimed at filling the growing need for environmental knowledge in the building sector, and therefore collaborating with the industry was considered a key issue. In line with the sectors prevailing technocratic view on environmental issues, a majority of the research programs Ph.D.

1The phrase green building is used in the thesis to denote any building project that explicitly strives to reduce the environmental impact, e.g., reduced energy consumption, protection of ecosystems, and occupant health. 2Between 1998 and 2002, the doctoral project constituting the basis for this thesis was part of the research program MISTRA Sustainable Building.

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projects had a technological perspective, focusing on technical solutions to what were perceived to be the sectors major environmental problems. However, over the years, the general perception of what constitutes an environmental problem has changed considerably; what was previously regarded as isolated problems gradually became viewed as aggregates of problems (Bolin et al., 1995; Lundgren, 1991), the solutions of which demanded an integrative view of science, technology and society. Furthermore, as there is no objective definition of what constitutes an environmental problem, there is no single meaning of what environmentally sound/friendly means. Instead, the meanings ascribed to the environment arise in and through verbal accounts, and it is through interpreting these meanings that managers decide which preventive or mitigating activities to undertake (Strannegrd, 1998). So, what value do qualifiers such as environmental, green, ecological, and sustainable associated with the building sector really carry? How do these meanings arise and how are they interpreted and managed? In the building sector, a complicating factor is that not only the interpretation and operationalization of environmental (green) issues are complex, but also the concepts of building and construction are problematic as these refer to actions on different system levels, from regional planning to individual building projects. The plurality of meanings of such a concept as green building thus allows competing ideologies and special interests to gain rhetorical prominence and to influence decision-makers views of what is to be prioritized (e.g., Wade-Benzoni et al., 1996; Wolff, 1998; Starkey and Crane, 2003).

There isnt any One True Map of the earth, of human existence, of the universe, or of Ultimate Reality, a Map supposed embedded inside these things; there are only maps we construct to make sense of the welter of our experience, and only us to judge whether these maps are worthwhile for us or not (Fay, 1990, p. 38).

Like all decisions, environmentally sound decisions are products of sensemaking processes. Therefore, in order to understand why certain environmental decisions are agreed upon, attention has to be paid on preceding activities such as framing and sensemaking. In the words of Weick, To be in thrall of decision making is to spend too much time on too narrow a band of issues that crop up too late after most of the important action is already finished (Weick, 2001, p. 4). Thus, sensemaking rather than decision-making

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has been in focus in this thesis, whose aspiration it is to be an agent for sustainable development. 1.1 Research aim

The matching of problems, choices, and decision makers is partly controlled by attributes of content, relevance, and competence; but it is also quite sensitive to attributes of timing, the particular combinations of current garbage cans, and the overall load on the system. (Cohen et al., 1972)

The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute new insight concerning the processes through which environmental issues are represented and given meaning, that is, how they are framed and acted upon by individuals and organizations in the Swedish building sector. The phrase environmental issues is used in a broad sense in this thesis. What is embraced by the phrase is part of the research aim. Drawing on the work of Hoffman and Ventresca (2002), the issues of how different actors define environmental problems, devise plausible solutions, and impede or foster implementation will be further elaborated on in Chapters 4 and 5. Three research questions have guided the research, all of them encompassing different organizational levels: individual, organizational, sector and national levels: Q1 How are environmental issues framed? 3 Q2 How are environmental issues made sense of? 4 Q3 How are environmental issues acted upon? 5

3Framing refers to how mental models or cognitive schemata, springing from ideologies, norms and beliefs influence ways of thinking and ways of talking about green building. In brief, people with a common mindset (mental framework) are more likely to develop similar views on green building. Bijker (1995) uses the term technological frames, consisting of established theoretical, ideological, political, economic and pragmatic representations and constraints to describe how interactions within and between relevant social groups develop and become established. 4To make sense is to connect the abstract with the concrete (Weick et al., 2005). From the enacted environment, people single out extracted cues that have attracted their attention. These cues are central for sensemaking to take place (Weick, 1995). To understand, interpret and make sense of the extracted cues, they have to be linked to a persons cognitive (mental) frames consisting of previous experiences and actions. These frames are not static, but change continuously as new knowledge and experience are accumulated.

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The emphasis is on the ways in which green ideas are constructed in the different discourses of various actors, and how they are communicated and interpreted across institutional and organizational boundaries. The time aspect is taken into consideration, which means that both synchronic and diachronic perspectives are taken. Considering the central role of public organizations, special attention has been paid municipal housing companies, but also local real estate authorities. The rationale for zooming in on municipal housing companies is that they carry responsibilities both to the regulatory systems, government and municipalities, as well as to the citizens. Therefore they wield power due to their potential role as a pacer for green innovations (Gregersen, 1992). In the process of greening (e.g., Bragd et al., 1998), public sector organizations may serve as a pacer both through their role as property-owners and as clients (The Committee for Ecologically Sustainable Procurement, 1999). Thus, these organizations have the ability to define the room for innovative maneuver for both private and public sector organizations. Furthermore, studying municipal housing companies provides an opportunity to follow the trajectory of environmental agendas from regulatory directives to organizational strategies. Accordingly, in order to answer the research questions, these organizations interactions with related stakeholders are examined. The thesis aims to increase understanding of the complex interactions at the interface between organizations and their social environments. In turn, better understanding of the intertwined processes of framing, sensemaking, and acting underpinning and/or undermining environmental discourses and actions will lead to more factual grounds for argumentation. Hopefully the result will be more effective communication and, in extension, less environmental impacts. Considering the three relevant communities for the development of green building discourses in Sweden; the scientific community, the building sector community and the authorities community (see Paper III and Paper IV for a description of these communities), the contributions of the thesis are: The scientific community: By framing the empirical findings in a specific theoretical context, the thesis contributes to the scientific conversation on how 5As emphasised by Alvesson (1998), the way people within the same organization or working context make sense of environmental issues have implications for collective action. An underlying assumption in this thesis is that reality is constructed, co-constructed and re-constructed in an ongoing process, where people construct their points of view, opinions, and representations in interaction with other people (e.g., Berger and Luckmann, 1966), i.e., organizations are viewed as open systems (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Scott, 1998) that interact and enact its social environment (Weick, 1995).

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organizations mobilize and manage environmental issues. By including a socio-technical perspective on environmental issues the literature of construction management will be broadened and enriched. The building sector community: By focusing on framing and sensemaking issues, the thesis contributes to raise critical awareness of the often implicit, taken for granted grounds on which strategic environmental decisions are based. In extension, this may contribute to a better management of environmental issues. The authorities community: By linking processes on national and organizational levels, the thesis contributes to increase insights into the translation processes of green ideas from the regulatory sphere into organizational environmental strategies. The thesis also sheds light on where and why the translation processes take place, and the power relationships that are involved. This kind of knowledge may be valuable for the implementation of future environmental strategies. 1.2 Organization of the thesis This introduction is followed by a theoretical frame of reference in Chapter 2, which gives an overview of the theoretical perspectives used to develop an understanding of sensemaking processes and practices involved in the management of environmental issues in public organizations. The methodological aspects of my research are described in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4 the results, as written-up in the six appended papers (I-VI), are presented. Each paper is followed by a short summary giving the rationale, context and main findings of the preceding paper. By reading the papers in chronological order (Figure 1), the reader is able to see how different perspectives on green building add to the understanding of the field. (However, if the reader wishes to first acquire an overview of the whole research project, he or she can read Chapters 1-3, the short summarizes to each paper, and Chapters 5 and 6 before taking on the articles.)

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I

II

III

IV

V

VI

Major level of analysis

National level

Sector level

Organizationallevel

Individual level

Paper No.

Figure 1. Major level of analysis in the appended papers. Drawing on the results in Chapter 4, a general discussion of the overall results and findings follows in Chapter 5. Finally, the thesis concludes with some closing remarks. Being aware that I am straying from the conventional structure of a compiled thesis, my hope is that this form will facilitate readability. The ambition is that this thesis will reflect sensemaking processes and practices on two planes: that of the organizations studied, and my own process of making sense of my research project.

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2 Frame of reference This chapter is divided in two parts. The first part (Section 2.1) reviews related research on environmental management. The second part (Section 2.2) outlines the thesis framework, which consists of the theoretical perspectives that have been drawn on to develop an understanding and explain sensemaking processes and practices involved in the management of environmental issues in organizations. 2.1 Related research

[E]nvironmental issues are a domain in which logics and ideologies compete for meaning and legitimacy (Hoffman and Ventresca, 2002, p. 21).

Today, the focus in the environmental debate is very different from what it was in the early 1960s when environmental problems first appeared on the political agenda (Bolin et al., 1995). The focus then was on local (domestic) issues, whereas today it has shifted to global (international) ones, in accordance with the increased awareness of the global character of environmental problems (e.g., Holmberg, 1995; Cole, 2004). Over the years, our perception of what constitutes an environmental problem has also changed considerably. Consequently, new strategies, approaches, goals, and policies in environmental management have evolved (Burstrm, 2000). Some of these are the adoption of environmental management systems, such as ISO 14001 and EMAS (e.g., Baumann et al., 2003; Ammenberg and Hjelm, 2003; Burstrm von Malmborg, 2002); the emergence of environmental annual reports (Ljungdahl, 1999; Skulstad, 2002), environmental impact assessment methods (e.g., Glasson et al., 1999); and green procurement (e.g., Committee for Ecologically Sustainable Procurement, 1999). Gradually, the management of environmental issues has evolved into a routine, strategic concern of major corporations (e.g., Hoffman and Ventresca, 2002). Within organizational studies, environmental management may be viewed as a burgeoning research area. Previously, research combining environmental

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issues and organizational matters has often been treated in special issues, for example in the Academy of Management Review (1995, 20[4]), American Behavior Scientist (1999, 42[8]), Academy of Management Journal (2000, 43[4]), and International Studies of Management and Organization (2000, 30[3]; 2006, 36[2]). Gradually, however, environmental management studies found their way into the ordinary issues of traditional management journals. However, due to the complexity in, for example, meaning systems, heterogeneous governance arrangements, and plurality of actors, Hoffman and Ventresca (2002) argue that the management of environmental issues in organizations is a strategic research area for any organizational scholar that seeks to understand change processes that span different levels of analysis, and the complex system in which they occur. Also, several academic journals dedicated to environmental management topics have emerged, such as, Business Strategy and the Environment, Organization and Environment, Environmental Management, Corporate Environmental Strategy, and Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. In general, the way environmentally related research has approached the environmental problems in society has been to develop managerial and measurement tools for improving operational efficiency. Many previous empirically grounded studies on environmental issues have paid less attention to institutional processes by which collective rationality is constructed within organizational fields, and instead have focused on the outcomes (see Hoffman and Ventresca, 2002 for an overview). Relatively little attention has been paid to the social processes, e.g., the power balance and human interactions involved in achieving the organizations strategic responses to external stimuli (Fssel and Georg, 2000). This also applies to environmental management research in the building sector, which has primarily followed a normative path (e.g., Gluch, 2005). Construction and the management of built facilities account for a significant amount of the environmental impact in society (The Ecocycle Council of the Building Sector, 2003; CIB, 1999). Accordingly, much research in the building sector stems from engineers that have been dedicated to finding solutions that would minimize these impacts. As Bengtsson (2002) noted, contemporary environmental discourse increasingly emphasizes environmental impacts associated with products. Thus, taking on a product perspective, several tools and guidelines have been developed (for an overview, see for example Gluch, 2005). Within this technically framed green building discourse (Cole, 2004), research in environmental assessment methods have held a prominent position.

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Assessment methods aiming at, for example, including the whole building stock (Thuvander, 2002), the building as a whole (Glaumann, 1999; Malmqvist, 2004), the procurement process (Sterner, 2002; Faith-Ell, 2005), a specific material (Jnsson, 1998; Borg, 2001; Paulsen, 1999; Trinius, 1999) have gained much attention, as has research on energy use related to environmental impact (Adalberth, 2000), and recycling (Thormark, 2001; Yarahmadi, 2003). Thus, there are several examples of research on different technological measures and solutions aimed at solving the building sectors environmental problems. Still, the sector accounts for approximately 40% of societys environmental impact (energy use, material use and waste, see Chapter 1). Why is this? Besides the search for different technical solutions, attention needs to be paid to why the building sectors environmental impacts occur in the first place. In line with Fssel (2005) and Gluch (2005), this thesis stresses the importance of viewing greening as part of ongoing processes of change. Therefore, as noted by Gluch, it is important to focus on building green in order to achieve green building. Thus, changing perspective from products to processes, calls for research on how people grapple with environmental issues in organizations, for example, how they frame them and make sense of them, and finally act upon them. So far, research that addresses the management of green building, e.g., socio-cultural and human issues have been poorly covered (Cole, 2004). There are, however, examples of research carried out within this area that pay attention to soft issues, for example, the greening of construction (Gluch, 2005), environmental management systems in construction (Hydynmaa, 2002), organizational aspects of housing management related to environmental impacts (Brunklaus, 2005), best practice and demonstration projects for learning and diffusion of innovations (Femenas, 2004; van Hal, 2000), local activities aimed at social inclusion and sustainable development (Stenberg, 2004), and translation processes (Wallstrm, 2005). Furthermore, Georg (2006) noted that in environmental management studies, relatively little attention has been paid to the processes through which the environment is constituted and given meaning, and to the ways in which environmental threats and possibilities are constructed, and by whom. Hoffman and Ventresca point at environmental issues as shaped by contending ideologies, defined by much ambiguity about causal linkages and consequences, and driven by increasingly well-organized constituencies and stakeholders (2002, p. 12). Although the ambiguity of qualifiers such as green, ecological, and sustainable associated with construction management, have been mentioned in several articles (e.g., Bengtsson 2002; Gluch and

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Femenas 2002; Stenberg 2000), few have problematized the social construction of their meanings from a historical and interpretative point of view. Guy and Farmer (2001) highlighted the conceptual challenges of the meanings of green building and outlined a social constructivist perspective on the development of sustainable architecture. They identified six competing logics of ecological design (i.e., eco-technic, eco-centric, eco-aestetic, eco-cultural, eco-medical, and eco-social) and showed how these reflect alternative visions of sustainable architecture. Moore and Engstrom (2005) examined the publications of fourteen US residential green-building programs and found four types of competing logics of green building: restrictive, strategic, adaptive and expansive. More, Cole (2004) traced the origins of prevailing societal green values in building research and practice in the UK and North American literature, but he paid less attention to the discursive processes giving rise to these values. Thus, for the development of knowledge within this relatively sparsely researched field, I have drawn on research carried out in other fields, and applied related theoretical perspectives. 2.2 Applied theoretical perspectives

Life is neither meaningful nor meaningless. Meaning and its absence are given to life by language and imagination. We are linguistic beings who inhabit a reality in which it makes sense to make sense (Batchelor, 1997, p. 39 as quoted in Weick, 2001).

Sensemaking processes and practices are the link that runs through this thesis. However, since the thesis is an outcome of several related studies conducted in different stages of the research process over a longer period of time, different theoretical perspectives have been applied depending on the character of the studies. Although the choices of theoretical perspectives used to anchor the empirical studies were partly a result of my knowledge at the actual time, and partly dependent on my maturity as a researcher, the main principle of selection was based on the different purposes of the conducted studies. In this process the empirical material has been the impetus for the choices of explanatory and analytical models or theories and not the other way around. That is, the theoretical frame was generated from the iterative conversations with my material and subjects. More, the applied theoretical perspectives have been used both as exploratory and explanatory tools. The point of departure and an underlying assumption is that reality is constructed (and re-constructed) in an ongoing process, where people

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construct their points of view, opinions, and representations in interaction with other people (e.g., Berger and Luckmann, 1966). Taking a social constructivist approach has been fruitful for analyzing the interplay between discourse and action in the management of green building. Thus, in paper III and IV a social constructivist model, Social Construction Of Technology, SCOT (Bijker, 1995) has been used as a theoretical framework to illustrate how the attribution of meaning is a social process involving both human actors as well as non-human entities. Since agents, according to SCOT, refer not only to individuals and groups, but also to artifacts (e.g., physical buildings, technology, tools, and documents), this model suits the analysis of the development of the concept of green building which encompass the technical as well as the social aspects of the concept. Another theoretical perspective that runs through the thesis is that of institutional change. Institutional theory (e.g., DiMaggio and Powell, 1983), offers an analytical framework for the understanding of how different ideas are generated and accepted both inside and outside of organizations. As an example of institutionalization processes, Czarniawska and Joerges (1996) notion of the travel of ideas is used in Paper VI to problematize how green ideas have traveled through different times and spaces and gone through several translations (Latour, 1992). Closely related to the social constructivist approach is the concept of sensemaking (Weick, 1995; 2001). Here I borrow from Meima, who states that sensemaking takes a highly constructivist and performative (Latour, 1986; Czarniawska-Joerges, 1993) view of organization, and facilitates an examination of processes whereby objects (i.e., thought-objects), identity, and reputation (i.e., legitimacy) are enacted (2002, p. 116). Sensemaking processes and practices are dealt with, more or less, in all appended papers. However, in paper V and VI this theoretical perspective is elaborated on. Applying a sensemaking perspective provides a framework for understanding how different meanings are constructed, deconstructed, negotiated and elaborated through human interaction. Below follows a brief outline of the main ideas behind the applied theoretical perspectives. 2.2.1 Social construction (SCOT) Adopting a social constructivist approach implies viewing organizations as consisting of human beings who construct the organization and adopt a pluralistic perspective by treating the organization as an array of factionalized groups with diverse purposes and goals. Organizations are not monolithic

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entities, rather they are coalitions of participants with different priorities (Putnam, 1983). Environmental problems as well as the way they are managed by individuals and organizations are social constructs which are perceived differently by different actors (e.g., Hannigan, 1995). Thus, there is no one true or correct way to approach the environmental impacts generated by the building sectors activities. Instead, the inherent ambiguity of language provides a great deal of interpretative flexibility (Bijker, 1995) of the notion of green building. The assumption underlying this thesis is that the construction of knowledge, for example concerning environmental issues, is a heterogeneous social activity built on negotiation and persuasion. Fssel states that the very existence of categorization of different perspectives and paradigms point to the fact that nature or the natural environment is socially constructed (2005, p. 182) That is, the natural environment is a contested terrain, where different groups (e.g., the scientific community, the building sector, the authorities, the media, and the interest organizations) compete to find acceptance for their specific interests. Using a social constructivist model (SCOT) as a theoretical framework highlights the fact that attributions of meaning are social processes that involves both human actors as well as non-human entities, technology, tools, and documents (Bijker, 1995). The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT), as described by Bijker, views technological development and change from a dual perspective: the social shaping of technology and the technical shaping of society. Bijker views the construction of ideas and artifacts as consisting of an intricate seamless web of changing social formations of relevant social groups of actors (see also Callon et al., 1986; Bijker et al., 1987; Law, 1991a, b; Bijker and Law, 1992). The members of a specific group share the same set of meanings, attached to a specific artifact, idea or action. More, each relevant social group is associated with its particular goals, methods and theories or technological frame. An aggregate of heterogeneous, relevant social groups with overlapping technological frames, form a rhetorical community since they share ways of thinking and more importantly, ways of talking about phenomena and events that are related and have bearing on the group (Risnen, 1999). For example, in her research on the conference forum as a system of genres, Risnen found that new interdisciplinary group constellations that started off as disparate social groups joined forces around the issue of traffic safety and formed a strong expert community with its particular vocabulary and discourse. The groups were united by a common cause, albeit each group may have had its particular agenda. This framework

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explains the roles played by these groups as they contribute to the production, distribution and consumption of values and beliefs. Related to the management of green building, by focusing on relevant social groups, it is possible to account for the different meanings that different interest groups attach to particular green ideas and terms. It also facilitates differentiation between groups that are difficult to define either as collective or as separate since they overlap to certain extents and to identify a particular (relevant) groups area of priority. One powerful mediating tool to enroll individuals and groups into a rhetorical community is, as the qualifier indicates, the language (see Papers III and IV). Technological frames, consisting of established theoretical, ideological, political, economic and pragmatic constraints, structure the interactions within and between relevant social groups, and influence the ways in which each group views the design, construction, and technological, as well as, social functions of potential new notions and innovations. The dominance of one group over another depends on the way in which a group is able to use its resources to translate its worldview into acceptable images for other groups in such a way as to impose and maintain a structure upon other groups. This ability is termed the power of enrolment, i.e., the ability to persuade a person or group by creating an argument that is interesting and attractive enough to block the persons or groups need to seek other arguments (Callon, 1986; Joerges and Czarniawska, 1998; Risnen, 1999). 2.2.2 Institutional change Drawing on institutional theory (e.g., DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Scott, 1998), organizational action is shaped and constrained by a wider context in which the organization is embedded. In this thesis, the organizational environment in focus is the Swedish building sector, which is referred to as the sector level in Chapter 1. However, it may also be categorized as an organizational field, which is defined as a community of organizations that partake in a common meaning system and whose participants interact more frequently with one another than with actors outside the field (Scott, 1995, p. 56). The viewpoint adapted in this thesis is that the interaction between the organization and its environment (organizational field) is not unidirectional. Instead, organizations and other actors within the field also convey their interests back to the field. Accordingly, the way certain structures, practices or ideas become institutionalized draws attention to the importance of viewing organizations as open systems (Scott, 1998; 2001).

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As Berger and Luckmann (1966) argue, humans construct their social reality by means of systems and symbols associated with repeated actions. These repeated actions gradually evoke stable similar meanings; they become institutionalized. Institutional theory offers an analytical framework for understanding how interpretations and practical definitions of, for example green building, are generated and accepted by individuals inside as well as outside of organizations. There are several examples of researchers that have applied this theoretical perspective on their studies of environmental management in business (e.g., Stenberg and Risnen, 2006; Bergstrm and Dobers, 2000; Fssel and Georg, 2000; Strannegrd, 1998). Furthermore, focusing on the micro-organizational level, Czarniawska and Joerges (1996) travels of ideas perspective is fruitful to apply when relating to institutional change processes. 2.2.3 Travels of ideas According to Czarniawska and Joerges (1996), as ideas (be they in non-materialized forms such as thoughts and talk, or materialized in artifacts) travel through different times and spaces they take on altered states as they collide with competing ideas.

Ideas are turned into things, then things into ideas again, transferred from their time and place of origin and materialized again elsewhere (Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996, p. 18).

Traditionally, spreading of new ideas has been viewed as a diffusion process (e.g., Rogers 1995). The weakness of the diffusion model, though, is that the recipient of an idea is regarded as a passive receiver. Thus, diffusion is seen as an almost automatic process (Powell and DiMaggio, 1991). More, the diffusion model also presupposes that diffused ideas do not change as they move from individual to individual or group to group. In contrast to the diffusion model, Latour (1992) shows how ideas goes through translation processes, i.e., they change as they move from sender to receiver to suit specific context of use (Meyer, 1996). Czarniawska and Joerges (1996) take up Latours metaphor and view the travel of ideas as a chain of translations (Latour, 1986; 1992). Czarniawska and Joerges (1996) give a detailed description of what happens when people are persuaded to translate an idea to fit their interest and local context. Then the idea can be materialized into collective action. More, if an idea is to be accepted, it has to be turned into a quasi-object, e.g., a text, or a

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blueprint. If the idea is then discovered and used in another local time and place, it is again translated, and materialized as some other collective action. If repeated and stabilized, that is, taken for granted, the idea becomes institutionalized. However, as Czarniawska and Joerges note, due to the actors frames (or mental repertoires of references) which are related to local time/space, they are only aware of one or two steps in this process. However, individual mental frameworks, or mindsets influence the way environmental issues are framed by an actor within a specific context. Here, Rachel Carsons book Silent Spring (1962) can serve as an example of how ideas travel through times and spaces (Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996). As a scientist, Carson ascribed the destruction of wildlife to the widespread use of pesticides and interpreted this effect on the ecological system as an environmental problem. Consequently, in order to attract public attention (see Hannigan, 1995), the message was packaged as a popular-science book, using language that could easily be understood by the general public. The message was thus transformed into a quasi-object that could travel through times and places (Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996). Accordingly, readers all over the world could pick up the message, and translate it (Latour, 1986; 1992) to fit their own local concerns and contexts (Sevn, 1996). For example, numerous grass-roots environmental organizations were inspired by Carsons message leading to new environmental legislations. It is still possible to detect traces of this influential book in, for example, the prominent role of chemical lists, which often seems to embody environmental management in the building sector (e.g., Gluch, 2005; Stenberg and Risnen, 2004). At a certain point in time, some relevant groups, composed of both human and non-human actors, may gain dominance over others through enrolling key actors and mobilizing a sufficiently large relevant group to establish their idea and program of action (Callon, 1986; 1991; Latour, 1987; Linde et al., 2003; Risnen, 1999). Networks of actors on both global and local levels are continuously competing with each other to stabilize their ideas of, for example the concept green. This competition takes place discursively by means of different kinds of textual inscriptions. In his study of how a business-driven environmental ideology is created and transmitted in a large Swedish manufacturer organization, Strannegrd (1998) found that the organizational members simultaneously were exposed to other competing institutionalization processes. Consequently, the key actors who advocated the environmental ideology actively had to ward off other competing ideas from taking up attention.

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Finally, a limitation of the travels of ideas perspective is that it does not contribute to a full understanding of what happens and why when an idea surfaces and is caught by actors in a local space. It shows that ideas travel and change, but not how this change takes place on organizational and individual levels. Therefore, to understand the sensemaking processes and practices in a local time and space involved in the management of environmental issues, the complementary theoretical Weickian perspective on sensemaking is applied. 2.2.4 Sensemaking and identity construction Drawing on Weick, who views organizations as collections of people trying to make sense of what is happening around them (Weick, 2001, p. 5), a sensemaking perspective offers an understanding of how different meanings are constructed, deconstructed, negotiated and elaborated through human interaction. When dealing with organizational issues, such as how environmental issues are framed, made sense of, and acted upon by individuals and organizations, it is essential to focus on how [people] construct what they construct, why, and with what effects (Weick, 1995, p. 4). Thus, instead of focusing solely on organizational structures or systems, the individuals views, or ways of thinking are in focus. Weick (1995) identifies seven properties of organizational sensemaking: identity, retrospect, enactment, social contact, ongoing events, cues, and plausibility. Through sensemaking, organizational members create their identity in a social context. More, the same individual may have relations to several groupings, and accordingly multiple identities. Based on past and current experiences, the identity (or identities) is continuously being formed in an ongoing process. More, sensemaking is a process of making meaning of the organization retrospectively, where the environment is created by the individuals actions and discourses. That is, organizations emerge from the ongoing (inter)action of their members, and do not exist apart from them, i.e., organizations are performed (Latour, 1986; Czarniawska-Joerges, 1993). According to the Weickian sensemaking theory, the concepts of extracted cues and cognitive frames are important. The first concept, extracted cues, are described as simple, familiar structures that are seeds from which people develop a larger sense of what might be occurring (Weick, 1995, p. 50), that is, from the enacted environment, people single out cues to help them interpret the situation. Therefore, extracted cues are central for sensemaking to take place, but it is important to realize that the interpretation of extracted cues takes place within specific cognitive (or mental) frames. Weick argues that

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people produce part of the environment they face (Weick, 1995, p. 30), and create the environment they enact. In order to connect the abstract with the concrete (Weick et al., 2005), the cognitive frame has to link to the extracted and bracketed issue. With each new experience, a persons cognitive frame changes. Finally, sensemaking can be seen on different levels: making sense of something, e.g., looking at it from the outside, and making sense within a collective. Each of these levels is driven by stories. As Weick states:

If accuracy is nice but not necessary in sensemaking, then what is necessary? The answer is, something that preserves plausibility and coherence, something that is reasonable and memorable, something that embodies past experience and expectations, something which resonates with other people, something that can be constructed retrospectively but also can be used prospectively, something that captures both feeling and thought, something that allows for embellishment to fit current oddities, something that is fun to contrast. In short, what is necessary in sensemaking is a good story (Weick, 1995, p. 60-61).

In this thesis, the emphasis on a good story has been addressed, for example, in the story of Alpha, told in Paper V, which aims at being as inclusive as possible to convey a rich picture of the empirical setting, in which different methods such as interviews, written documents and participatory observations were used. More, if we are to understand how environmental issues are acted upon by an organization, we need to understand how meaning is constructed and destructed (e.g., Gray et al., 1985; Weick, 1995). In order to gain a better understanding of the sensemaking process, language then has a crucial role due to its functions as a tool in individuals social construction of reality (Ericson, 1998) (see Papers IV, V and VI). In the frequently used quote How can I know what I think until I see what I say? Weick (1995, p.18) views identity construction as a property of sensemaking. So, the link between sensemaking processes and identity construction is that the construction of organizational identity is a precondition for sensemaking while, at the same time, organizational identity is constructed through the process of sensemaking. Sensemaking of ambiguities and contradictions on different organizational levels may result in different sets of identities that the actors may enact. Hatch and Schultz (2004) call attention to the need of a broad approach when studying organizational identity:

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Our media-sensitive society exposes organizations and their members more than ever before to influences beyond those under the control of their managers. Opinions and impressions, feelings and fantasies, hopes and expectations expressed by employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, governments, and their regulatory agents as well as community members, the general public, the media, and political activists whether positive or negative all contribute to defining the identity of an organization and sometimes challenge the managerially preferred version (Hatch and Schultz, 2004, p.1).

Organizational identity formation is a complex process influenced by both internally and externally informed views (Hatch and Schultz, 2000). Paper V presents a story of how the members of one organization, in interaction with its social environment, made sense of environmental issues over time, and thus created a corporate environmental identity. Czarniawska-Joerges (1994) describes identity construction as a two-way process where not only actors perform actions, but also the actions create the actors, or rather, their identities. As emphasized by Alvesson (1998), the way people within the same organization, or working context, make sense of, for example environmental issues, have implications for collective action. Applying a post-modern view, identity is viewed as illusions created and maintained by processes of social construction (Hatch and Schulz, 2000). The identity concept is understood as relational and constructed and re-constructed in an on-going negotiation with others, hence opening up for change and multiplicity (e.g., Mead, 1934; Czarniawska-Joerges, 1994; Sahlin-Andersson, 1996). The fact that identities are constructed out of the process of interaction is also stressed by Weick (1995, p.20), who further argues that to shift among interactions is to shift among definitions of self. Consequently, interpersonal interaction, along with the interplay between an organization and its social environment are crucial factors in organizational identity construction. Combining the theoretical perspectives of sensemaking, social constructivism and institutional change, Paper III, V and VI link the construction of organizational identity to the past and present streams of development of the notions of green building. Primarily, the identity concept has been applied to individuals (Sahlin-Andersson, 1996); the transfer of the concept to groups or organizations follows from the notion that not only individuals in our modern society, but also collectives, such as organizations, are perceived and presented as actors. As mentioned earlier, organizations are shaped by heterogeneous and dynamic groupings of people with varied backgrounds, education, beliefs and

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ambitions. These groups are bound together by organizational activities and processes governed by organizational discourses through which goals, strategies and day-to-day tensions are negotiated in the creation of a sense of self in the organization. Thus, organizations may metaphorically be treated as actors who think, reason and behave, and are able to conceive of themselves and others as having identities (Brunsson, 1989; Sevn, 1996). Identity construction is a discursive process of identification, which involves naming, labeling, classifying and associating of both artifacts and social actors, and it takes place both on organizational and individual levels. These two levels of identities are closely dependent on each other. Marziliano (1998) makes a distinction between internal identity construction and external image creation, reputation and profile. Identity refers to how actors make sense of previous experiences and create internal personality. Image, reputation and profile, on the other hand, refer to the organization and its enacted environment, that is, they focus on the outsiders and what they think about us. Identity and ensuing actions are not solely shaped by the internal activities and discursive practices of an organization; they are also strongly influenced and constrained by the wider context in which the organization is embedded (e.g., DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Scott, 1995). Thus, the interplay between an organization and its social environment has an important role to play in the organizations identity construction, which in turn may have implications for how different issues, e.g., environmental issues, are framed and acted upon individually and collectively. Furthermore, organizational identity has implications for corporate branding. Therefore, for the organizational members it is important to follow through on the images that are communicated to the outside, which means that the behavior needs deep roots, it needs to rest in the organizations identity (Hatch and Schultz, 2004).

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3 Method

You never come conceptually empty-handed to a research process (Alvesson and Skldberg, 1994, p. 23, my translation).

In my role as a researcher, I interpret the different actions and stories that talk to me through my data. However, my pre-understanding within a specific field naturally influences my way of seeing, and accordingly colors alternative ways of seeing things. Life experiences are added to each other forming a mental repertoire of references, or an interpretative scheme, that influences the way I interpret my empirical material. Therefore, it may be a reasonable expectation of the readers to be informed about my personal backpack in order to understand and judge the outcome of my research. Unpacking the relevant parts of my backpack, at first sight reveals a female civil engineer, doing research at a technical university. More, my previous working experience includes, for example, five years of work as professional engineer at an architectural firm. 3.1 Research approach

An actor does not live in a social vacuum. Interpretations and actions take place in a social reality with several other actors (Arbnor and Bjerke, 1994, p. 203, my translation).

According to the research traditions at technical universities, a researcher is normally expected to generate scientifically objective explanations of the phenomena studied. However, viewing the world as socially constructed and taking an interpretative approach, there is no such thing as a single and correct picture to hand. Any phenomenon may be viewed from several different theoretical perspectives. Through an iteration process between empirical studies and theoretical perspectives the viewpoints have shifted and gradually a set of related theoretical perspectives emerged (Figure 2). Borrowing and applying theoretical perspectives from different scientific fields of necessity implies

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that my intention has not been to develop a theory. Instead, by framing the empirical findings in a specific theoretical context, the contribution of this thesis is to offer theoretical interpretations of practice that may then be fed back into practice to generate improvements in the management of environmental issues.

Retrospectivereflections

Empirical dimension

Theoreticaldimension

Ph.D. project take-off

Doctoral thesis

Study A

Study B

Study

Figure 2. Continuous iteration between the empirical dimension and the theoretical dimension. In order to gain an understanding of how environmental issues are framed, made sense of, and acted upon in the building sector, it is essential to understand how different actors view reality and orient themselves in the same. That is, a comprehensive picture may only be understood based on its integral parts. This methodological approach is referred to as the actors approach (Arbnor and Bjerke, 1994). According to this approach, the main interest is to understand a social phenomenon through the individual actors that are part of that specific phenomenon. Focus is on mapping what significance and meaning different actors put on their own actions and social environment. The knowledge that develops through the actors approach will be situation-dependent and closely linked to the realities as experienced in local contexts. The aim of the studies that constitute this thesis has not been to obtain statistical generalizations, but rather to offer possible analytical generalizations. The understanding of sensemaking processes and practices involved in different actors grappling with environmental issues may be applicable also to other contexts, that is, generalized beyond the focus of these particular studies. This research approach has allowed me to develop the methods over time. For example, feedback seminars have been added in the latest study. In the previous studies, the respondents have received feedback in the form of transcriptions of the interviews, manuscripts of study reports, and papers. They have then been able to react to and correct any misguided conceptions. It

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was considered important that the organizations received rapid feedback of my preliminary inferences so that these could be either corroborated or refuted, giving rise to further reflections and revisions. Thus, through feedback loops, learning was incrementally and inherently enhanced for both parties, without action-specific intervention on my part. 3.1.1 Methodological stance Whether or not qualitative or quantitative methods are suitable to apply in a study depends on the character of the research questions (Kvale, 1997). Since the research questions addressed in this thesis aim at describing and increasing understanding of how environmental issues are framed, made sense of, and acted upon, it was natural to adopt a qualitative standpoint. In contrast to quantitative methods, that may provide limited information in a broad perspective, qualitative methods offer a more in-depth understanding of the phenomena studied, highlighting similarities as well as differences of opinions. The major methodological stance of this research fits into the broad term qualitative research, that is, research that focuses on the understanding of specific phenomena, for example, how individuals and organizations view and understand the world and construct meaning out of their experiences. This thesis answers questions like how and why, rather than questions like what and how many. The empirical studies in this thesis are mainly based on interviews, written documents, and field observations as data collection techniques (see Tables 1 and 2). 3.2 Empirical research The thesis is the outcome of seven related studies, five of them being main studies, and the remaining two being reference studies (the different settings and sets of participants are accounted for in Tables 1 and 2). The main studies consist of three field studies (the Competition study, the Housing Companies study, and the Sister Companies study) carried out in public organizations (foremost municipal housing companies), and two literature studies focusing on the building sector (the Environmental Discourse study, and the Trade Media study). The reference studies consist of one minor interview study, the Green Champions study, and a survey aimed at the whole building sector, the Barometern study.

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Table 1. Details of main studies.

Competition (1998-2000)

Housing Companies (2001-2003)

Sister Companies (2004-2005)

Environmental discourse (2001-2004)

Trade Media (2002-2005)

Purpose of study

Investigation of the process of formulating and realizing environmental requirements through procurement processes

Investigation of the development of environmental strategies in three housing companies

Investigation of the ways in which green ideas are constructed, communicated and interpreted in four housing companies

Investigation of the production, dissemination and interpretation of green ideas in the Swedish building sector from the early 60s to date

Investigation of the images Swedish building trade magazines mediate to practitioners, concerning green building

OUTCOME OF EACH STUDY Appended Papers

I V IV, V & VI III & IV II

Additional Publications

[1], [2] & [11] [13] [6] & [8] [3] & [5] [7] & [14]

DATA COLLECTION METHODS Interviews A total of 10

respondents A total of 11 respondents

A total of 37 respondents

1,5-2 hours per interview

1-2 hours per interview

1-2 hours per interview

4 municipal officials (a) 5 developer representatives 1 repr. from Association of Building Contractors

5 employees at Alpha (b) 3 employees at Delta (c) 3 employees at Lambda (d)

10 employees at Alpha (e) 11 employees at Beta (f) 12 employees at Gamma (g) 4 employees at Delta (h)

Group activities

4 exploring interviews 3 feedback seminars

Field observations

4 tuning meetings 3 project meetings

1 Environmental Unit meeting at Beta

Written documents

Local authority protocols Competition program Competition proposals

Company-specific documents Policy documents

Company-specific documents Policy documents Intranet guideline information

Books, reports, articles on green building in the Swedish context

1324 trade press articles 35 trade press articles

Database search

Database search for relevant literature

Web information on: titles, authors. publication, year, articles, notes, keywords

Questionnaire

Notes, Table 1: (a) Three real estate officials, one project leader at the local Agenda 21 office (b) Coordinator, Coordinator of Environmental Work, Project leader, Building

Supervisor (c) Managing Director, Building Supervisor, Consultant (d) Operation Service Manager, Works Engineer, Technical Property Manager (e) Coordinator, Coordinator of Environmental Work, Marketing & Information

Manager, Purchasing Manager, Gardening Manager, two District Managers, two Building Supervisors, one Gardener

(f) Managing Director, Property Development Manager, Operation Service Manager, Coordinator of Environmental Work, Environmental Project Manager, two District Managers, two Building Supervisors, one Gardener

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(g) Managing Director, Manager of Environment & Energy, Environmental Engineer, Works Engineer, one Project Manager, two District Managers, two Technical Planners, two Building Supervisors, one Gardener

(h) Managing Director, Property Manager, two Building Supervisors Table 2. Details of reference studies.

Note, Table 2: (i) One real estate official, two Managing Directors working at municipal housing

companies The fieldwork constituted in total approximately 115 hours of in-depth interviews distributed across 64 interviews, explorative interviews with 7 informers at four housing companies, and feedback seminars carried out at three housing companies. More, there were approximately 50 hours of field observations (see details of the studies in Tables 1 and 2, where the reader can also see the deliverables in the form of papers from each study). The results from the studies are presented in summary form in Chapter 4, where the appended papers are also included in consecutive order. In the following sections I elaborate on the studies, their design, preparation and the field work. In order to reduce the subjective judgment when selecting set of data (Yin, 1994), i.e., to obtain construct validity, several strategies have been used. For example, (1) the use of multiple sources (interviews, written documents, field observations, questionnaires) to enable analysis from different perspectives, (2) the establishment of a chain of evidence (here, the chosen organization of

Green Champions (2000)

Barometern (2002)

Purpose of study

Investigation of green champions conceptions and understandings of environmental issues

Investigation of how representatives working in the building sector define its environmental challenge, how the companies responded to the same challenges and what results that had been achieved

OUTCOME OF EACH STUDY Appended Papers

Additional publications

[2] [4] & [12]

DATA COLLECTION METHODS Interviews A total of 4 respondents

2-3 hours per interview

3 municipal officials (i) 1 eco-consultant

Groups activities

Field observations

Visits of building projects related to the interviewees

Written documents

Company-specific environmental documents

Database search

Questionnaire In total 217 companies of which 68 companies in the real estate sector

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the thesis aims at linking different blocks of research to establish harmony between research question, research assumptions and the studied phenomenon, data collection and analysis technique (Starrin and Svensson, 1994)), and (3) to let key informants review the analysis in order to address the reasonableness of the interpretations (e.g., in the Sister Companies study feedback seminars fulfilled this purpose, and in common for all studies was that before publication of field study reports or papers, the manuscripts were sent to the respondents for review). 3.2.1 The three-phase iterative multi-mode method Inspired by Risnen and Gunnarson (2004) a three-phase iterative multi-mode method consisting of (1) exploratory phase, (2) focused phase, and (3) feedback phase has been used, which combines in-depth interviews, field observations, written documentation, and feedback seminars (see Figure 3). The technique used for data collection was semi-structured personal interviews (Arbnor and Bjerke, 1997). Contacts with a selected company/organization were most often carried out with a spokesperson of the companys environmental management. Often, the contact person provided a list of relevant (due to each studys specific purpose) names to choose from. The respondents were randomly chosen from the list, the criterion being that there was at least one representative from each category involved in any aspect of environmental work. In some particular cases I was recommended to choose a specific actor.

Figure 3. The three-phase iterative multi-mode method (Modified from Risnen and Gunnarson, 2004). (Legend: four-way arrows=consultations with inside informers; stars=field observations; two-way arrows=interviews; squares=written documentation; vertical oval=feedback seminar; horizontal ovals=focused group discussion; curved arrows=learning loops). Three kinds of interviews were conducted, exporative interviews, personal interviews, and feedback seminars. In order to achieve as holistic a

Exploratory phase Focused phase Feedback phase

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representation as possible of the organizational context and interaction, a multi-mode method (Figure 3) was used the Sister Companies study. In all, 64 personal interviews were accomplished (see Tables 1 and 2). Internal validity, which addresses the degree to which the results correspond to reality (Yin, 1994) has been justified on several occasions during the research process. For example, during the interviews, by conducting a dialogue with the respondent I have assured that I have understood the respondents answers correctly. In order to avoid leading questions (Kvale, 1997) open-ended questions were used which allowed the respondent to speak freely around the subject. Initial questions were often followed up with more specific questions, probing causes and effects. More, a co-interviewer was involved in parts of the data collection which facilitated the analysis of the transcriptions, and enabled a double check of the interpretations of the results. Explorative interviews During the explorative phase of the Sister Companies study (see Figure 3), two-hour consultations with one or two inside informers at each company were conducted. During the consultations the informers were asked to draw a joint organizational flowchart indicating the interdependencies of all the distributed divisions and units of the organization. The informers provided their interpretations of up-to-date information about the environmental activities and commitments of the company. They also served as contact persons throughout the data collection phase. I found that two inside informers rather than one, which is usually the case (e.g., Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1995) increased the reliability of the study in that they acted as memory prompts and commentators of each other. Most importantly for this approach was that the dialogic exchanges between the informers naturally elicited subtle differences in their interpretations of company goals and strategies, roles and responsibilities. These slight differences gave me hints as to what points to stress in the interviews with other members of the organization. Personal interviews All interviews were open-ended, and a semi-structured interview guide, in which the questions were categorized by topics, served as a checkpoint through out the interviews to make sure that all the issues were covered. The interview took part at the respondents working place, most often in his or her office, or in a seminar room. In order to get as open and comprehensive answers as possible, confidentiality was assured the respondents.

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All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed in full. Tape-recording ensured that both the context and texts could be rigorously analyzed. The use of personal interviews, which normally lasted for 1,5-2 hours each, resulted in very rich empirical data, which permitted me to obtain a thick description (Geertz, 1983) of the data and context. Feedback seminars In the third phase of the Sister Companies study (see Figure 3), the participants in the three big sister companies (here called Alpha, Beta, and Gamma) were invited to respective feedback seminars. At these seminars a preliminary analysis was presented and a discussion was generated where the participants were encouraged to speak freely around the results and discuss them with each other. 3.2.2 Field observations In order to provide additional information in the field studies, a direct field observation method (Yin, 1994) was used as a complement to interviews and written documents. The observations consisted mainly of attending meetings. Three kinds of meetings were observed, here referred to as tuning meetings, project meetings, and environmental unit meetings. In all, I attended eight meetings (see Tables 1 and 2) to observe the interaction between different actors and to study the rhetoric used in e.g., negotiation processes. In addition to the formal observations, less formal direct observations (Yin, 1994, p. 87) were made in all field studies. That is, since all interviews took place at the respondents work place, I could form an opinion of how the studied companies representations of green came to expression in physical artifacts, e.g., the buildings, the waste management systems, and also the outdoor environment. Tuning meetings In the Competition study, field observations provided insight in the development process of the winning competition proposal. The field observations included four tuning meetings, the purposes of which were to ensure that the final buildings corresponded with the winning proposal. These meetings, which were the main interaction forum of the real estate office and the winning developer, offered an opportunity to observe interaction, i.e., the negotiation process, between the two counter-parts as it took place at the winning developers office. During the tuning meetings development issues, municipal control, architecture, energy consumption, ecological building

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techniques and considerations, finances, project follow-ups, and also quality and environment guarantees were discussed. Project meetings The field observations of the Competition study included three project meetings between several representatives of the winning developer and the contractual consultants (representing the professions of architecture, construction, grounding, HVAC system, and electricity recruited on a national basis). These project meetings provided an opportunity to follow how the ideas in the winning competition proposal were translated and concretized by the project team. Environmental Unit meeting In the Sister Companies study, one observation of an environmental unit meeting was carried out. This meeting took place at one of the housing companies, Beta, and was a routine meeting focusing on a follow-up of overall as well as detailed environmental goals of the companys environmental plans, which was normally carried out twice a year. By attending this informative and decision-making meeting I got insight in the routing work of the members of Betas environmental unit. In all three Sister Companies, all members of the respective environmental unit were interviewed. Thus, my observations from Betas environmental unit meeting were used to follow-up specific issues in the interviews not only at Beta, but also at Alpha and Gamma. 3.2.3 Written documents Complementary to interviews and field observations, written documents have been analyzed in the different studies (see Tables 1 and 2). Starting with the field studies, in the Competition study the local authoritys protocols, the Competition Program and the five competitors proposals (including both texts and drawings) were important parts of the empirical data. In addition, eight protocols from the tuning meetings were studied to follow the gradual development of the project. Furthermore, company-specific documents, such as policy documents, annual reports, environmental management system instructions and recommendations, and official web texts, were analyzed in the Housing Companies study, the Sister Companies study, and the Green Champion study. The Environmental Discourse study was based upon an extensive literature review of books, reports and articles identified through a database survey of a Swedish collective database (Byggtorget.se) for the building sector, including,

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e.g., design, planning, housing, construction, environmental and sanitary engineeri