Mapping social context of sustainable attitudes using stakeholder analysis with discourse analysis

Abstract

Maritime sectors have been notorious for their slow paced innovation efforts and although it is an efficient sector, it has big impact on the environment just because of the size of the industry (M. Rahim, et al. 2016). There is a lot of activity on the seas, changes in this sector could make a big difference when making our world become more sustainable. However, the sustainable field is a field that is faced with wicked problems. There are always many stakeholders involved and their interests and expectations on these matters can vary wildly. Conversations are important to bring alignment and understanding across stakeholders (Whitemore, 2013). These conversations involve the political and social sciences to investigate. A list of stakeholders was drafted and they were assessed on the grounds of their discourses. A discourse is “a way of shared, structured ways of speaking, thinking, interpreting and representing things in the world.” (Guardado, 2018, p 72) The following RQ was formulated: How can different stakeholders regarding the sustainable transition of the maritime industry be assessed using the discourses of Dryzek?

With a basis of Q-methodology, a list of statements was created that, based on Dryzek’s discourse theory, is then used to judge the respondents on their environmental beliefs. Also the sustainability reports of selected companies where investigated. It was possible to identify the main themes that could count on agreement/disagreement and controversy. Nature and the existence of limits to our activities where rated highly, while the way to solve it remained controversial. People are more imaginative than their company’s current policies indicate. People see the limitations to the systems that surround them. The willingness of the employees is there, or there is a lack between the strategy of the board and the values of the employees. Further action is required to bridge the gap.

It is indeed possible to asses different stakeholders and firms on their discourses and the research shows two methods to do it. The set up of the interview and the statements proved to be able to provide information about the environmentalism of the stakeholder. This information gives an insight into the social context of environmentalism and brought forward interesting observations about the willingness of the employees and the stance of the companies. The reports indicate a gap between what is needed (and wanted) and what is currently being done. The companies should be more radical and imaginative in both their vision and their solutions, instead of focussing on the solutions alone. Vision is often omitted from the reports, an important oversight.

Overarching vision and motivation can be uncovered but the specific points of departure for technological advancement remain hidden. The thesis brings a contribution to investigations on stakeholder alignment in the clean shipping sector and uncovers some important issues. The firms specific operating context remains to be investigated with more detail, as to properly find the barriers that hold back solving wicked problems. However a good effort is made to indicate the grounds for disputes from the actors.