Purpose The aim of this study is to analyze the capitals moved in decisions about sustainability in narratives from and referring to Samarco Minerações, S.A. under a perspective guided by Bourdieusian sociology. Design/methodology/approach Oriented by historicist ontology and historical epistemology, this research is classified as qualitative, descriptive and documentary, with narrative analysis and case study. The selected organization-case was Samarco Minerações, S.A. The documentary sources considered were sustainability reports, social networks channels and news published in Brazilian newspapers of high circulation. The collected information was submitted to the narrative analysis method. Findings Samarco Minerações, S.A. maintained the sustainability posture before and after the ore tailings dam rupture. The decision models adopted (decentralized) and the moved capitals (economic and technological) after the ecocide revealed a change in the organizational practices in front of a new instability scenario, and the organization’s attempt to reach acknowledgment, legitimacy and power. Social implications The organization was selected because of its involvement in an ecocide. The crime generated economic (suspension of tax collection caused by the organizational inactivity), social (unemployment and deaths) and environmental (iron ore tailings contaminated the region’s ecosystem) impacts. Originality/value The greatest value and contribution this paper offers is an alternative intermediary methodological approach using Bourdieusian micro-sociology to analyze narratives based on capitals dynamics and doxa. This theoretical and methodological approach can prove fruitful for further research in sustainability studies on other topics, and even in other fields.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between organizations and sustainability as a field of knowledge possible to be accessed by descriptive and thematic representations extracted from administration area published papers about the subject. Design/methodology/approach This paper consists in a bibliometric study. It was considered five bases of journals indexation: AOM, Emerald, Elsevier, Sage and Wiley. By judgmental sampling, 11 journals were selected, in which, at the end of data collection, 192 papers were eligible to be analyzed by content and thematic analysis techniques. Findings In quantitative data analysis, it was implied that the field of knowledge identity was colonized by the Euro-American axis. In qualitative analysis, it was found that the investigated field of knowledge was built by 15 thematic representations, understood by three forms of comprehensions, enabled by four different debates. Practical implications In a political and ideological perspective of sustainability, the socioenvironmental interests are silenced by a dominant power. Along these lines, the theme is managed, instrumentalized and commercialized by a dominant power. This paper aims to make these relations between organizations and sustainability public. The investigated field of knowledge houses a dominant discursive representation interest in respect to the investigated relations. Originality/value This paper innovates by considering conceptual frameworks of sustainable development and sustainability developed from contributions extracted from organizational theories, sociological reflections and political science orientations. The selection was necessary to ensure the theoretical viability of the discussion proposed by this paper.
RESUMO Empreendemos uma reflexão institucionalista sobre a construção do(s) sentido(s) de sustentabilidade enquanto fator legitimador das organizações, argumentando que a construção polissêmica do conceito é linguisticamente operada intencionando legitimação em campos organizacionais heterogêneos. Aplicamos o modelo semiótico do processo de institucionalização ao conceito de sustentabilidade, evidenciando sua construção linguístico-social de duas formas – denotacional e conotacional –, discutindo a saída da natureza objetiva do conceito para sua natureza mítico-racional na qual a dissociação do fazer, dizer e significar transmuta seu conteúdo semântico. A sustentabilidade é, então, entendida como mais uma pressão institucional à qual as organizações precisam responder, e estas geralmente o fazem de maneira estratégica, mediante aceitação, adaptação ou contestação. Assim, ainda que determinados atores busquem institucionalizar a sustentabilidade denotacionalmente, seu sentido oscila conotacionalmente conforme é difundido, seja por conveniência ou falta de clareza sobre como operacionalizá-lo nas organizações.
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