Abstract
This chapter investigates how emotions affect strategic sustainability decision-making; a process that has previously been considered mostly as rational. Drawing on interviews with 23 owner-managers of sustainability trailblazing small and medium-sized enterprises, the authors illuminate how emotions complement thinking and rational analysis in sustainability decision-making. This happens through three interrelated elements that link emotion with ethical considerations: sensitizing, sensing and selecting. Sensitizing is associated with an initial awareness of the ethical dilemma; sensing with establishing a global sense of a whole; and selecting with making the ultimate right/good choice. The authors propose a model in which emotion acts as an ethical compass for managers who are subject to multiple forces when making strategic sustainability decisions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems |
| Subtitle of host publication | Frontiers in European Entrepreneurship Research |
| Editors | Eddy Laveren, Robert Blackburn, Cyrine Ben-Hafaïedh, Cristina Díaz-García, Ángela González Moreno |
| Publisher | Edward Elgar |
| Pages | 70-89 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1-83910-969-0 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-83910-968-3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Sept 2020 |
| MoE publication type | A3 Book section, Chapters in research books |
Keywords
- emotions
- ethical compass
- strategic sustainability decisions
