Présentation orale #1: Sustainability, ESG & Institutional Transformations

Quand: jeudi, 12 mars 2026 — 14 h 00–15 h 30
Salle: C.403 — Louis-R-Chenevert

Présentations

1. Yanda Tao

Titre: Green Disclosure or Green Hushing? The impact of Corporate Environmental Sustainability Communication on Social Media Engagement

Résumé: As public values toward environmental sustainability become increasingly divided, firms’ sustainability communication can generate both strategic benefits and risks. This study examines whether sustainability communication on social media triggers cross-content spillover effects that influence the effectiveness of subsequent routine communication. Using observational data from X, we show that sustainability posts are followed by a decline in user engagement with subsequent routine content. Guided by social identity theory and supported by experiments, we provide evidence that this negative effect is driven by asymmetric responses across social-identity groups. Further analyses show that more detailed or interactive communication strategies can substantially mitigate, and in some cases fully offset, this negative cross-content spillover by differentially shaping perceived identity alignment versus identity violation across user groups. Overall, we document a negative downstream consequence of sustainability communication, identify its underlying mechanism and mitigating strategies, and offer actionable guidance for firms navigating uncertainty in sustainability communication.

2. André Godoi

Titre: Organizational institutionalism and the construction of risks: The institutionalization of ESG in professional investment management

Résumé: Important risks for society such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and threats to democracy are now standard topics in our daily news, as well as in the day-to-day of organizations and of researchers. In organization theory literature, so far, research has identified (de)stabilization of meaning and risk performance as mechanisms though which organizations construct risks. Despite providing relevant insights, these mechanisms are reactive, narrowly focused on the organizations directly exposed to the uncertainty and overlook diffusion processes. This research mobilizes organizational institutionalism as a framework to explore the construction of ESG (acronym for Environmental, Social, and Governance issues) as risks for financial investments, in the context of professional investment management in the European Union and in the United States. Despite contrary forces especially in the United States, ESG-informed investments have been institutionalized to a relevant extent in professional investment management, with trillions of dollars of capital allocated in them and a growing number of investment products, supported by information disclosure frameworks, specialized data providers, regulation, and a revised knowledge body in investment analysis. Methodologically, the study follows a conceptual history strategy, examining accounts of ESG history and related documents, finding four stages in the social construction of ESG between 1992 to 2025. The findings highlight institutional entrepreneurship and translation processes as key mechanisms in the risk construction process. The study contributes primarily by offering organizational institutionalism as a framework to explore the construction of risk mechanism through which organizations construct risk, and by expanding our knowledge about risk translations. It contributes also to scholarship on institutionalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in markets and, to a broader extent, to the demonstrate the deepening of financialization in the contemporaneous stage of capitalism. Empirically, this article provides a history about ESG that clarify that protecting investment is its primary justification, and not sustainable development.

3. Helena Campos

Titre: The emergence of alternative winemaking in Baja California, Mexico, in response to sustainability challenges in the region

Résumé: This study examines how alternative wine producers in Baja California, Mexico, are adapting to a rapidly changing environment. These producers have adopted various strategies, including focusing on alternative forms of viticulture and prioritizing sustainable practices, as a strategic response to sustainability challenges in the region. The main findings reveal a fundamental shift in business practices and interpretations of alternative winemaking, resulting in emerging business models. Operating in a relatively under-regulated legal environment compared to many established wine-producing countries, small wine producers, supported by local communities of passionate winemakers dedicated to alternative forms of viticulture, are shifting toward sustainable practices. They are also strengthening their business models by expanding into new domains, such as gastronomy, tourism, and the circular economy.

4. Séverine Halopeau

Titre: Over-digitalization in the workplace: How people respond with ambivalence

Résumé: Smartphones, email, Teams, shared documents, business software, IAGen: digital tool portfolios are constantly growing. The effects of this phenomenon, known as “over-digitalization”, remain largely unexplored in literature. We address this gap by combining the theories of Technostress (Tarafdar et al., 2007) and the Coping Model of User Adaptation (CMUA) (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005). A case study employing a qualitative methodological approach was conducted within a French government agency, resulting in 31 individual interviews (583 pages of transcripts) that were collected and analyzed. Our results show the ambivalent nature of over-digitalization. We identify three negative digital experiences (the overloaded, the impatient and the novice or overwhelmed) as well as three types of adaptation: learning, regulation and avoidance. We contribute to the application of CMUA and technostress by showing their limitations in studying the phenomenon of over-digitalization.