embedding sustainability in organizational culture - Network for ...

appeNdIx Chapter 1: a: Introduction Methodology
63
search source initial
search
preliminary
screening
retained
analogous Interventions 2710 115 83**
embed* and Culture 687 25 15
Innovat* and Culture 635 28 23
Compl* and Culture 284 21 18
Safety and Culture 384 21 21
eMS/environmental management system*
and Culture
600 5 2
high reliability organization and Culture 64 7 6
tQM /total quality management and Culture 56 8 8
total 13756 701 179
** Unique document count (since some documents arose from multiple search
terms). In the final column, the documents are recorded in the first search in which
they appeared.
The final screening retained a total of 179 sources including 82 academic sources
related to sustainability, 83 sources related to analogous cultural interventions, 10
books and 4 practitioner reports. A complete reference list for the final document set
is provided in Appendix B.
data extraction
Our data sources were then loaded into a qualitative analysis program called Atlas.ti.
Atlas.ti (2010) was selected for this purpose due to its ability to handle large bodies
of data (and in particular, PDFS) along with the tools it provides to help arrange,
reassemble, and manage these materials in systematic ways. The use of a qualitative
analysis program was instrumental in handling a data set this large by supporting
the analysis process and by permitting us to organize and query our findings.
Our next task was to extract the relevant information from each of the sources.
We did this through a process of ‘coding.’ Open coding involves “breaking down,
examining, comparing, conceptualizing, and categorizing data” (Strauss & Corbin,
1990: 61). Coding involves selecting part of the text (a ‘quotation’) and attaching a
label or tag (a ‘code’) to that text. It also involves a process of constantly comparing
incidents to each other in the data (Holton, 2007). It is a highly systematic and
iterative process that formed the foundation of our analysis. We coded each and
every source by asking ourselves the following questions:
What are they doing?: We coded every instance where we found an
organizational practice that aimed to embed sustainability in organizational culture.
In naming our codes, we made use of gerunds (words ending in ‘ing’) to capture
what the organizations were ‘doing.’
Who is doing it?: Initially, our aim was also to capture ‘who’ within the
organization was undertaking the practice (for example, the human resources
department, the CEO, the Board of Directors, management, or employees). We
found it was often difficult to identify based on the information provided in the
articles, and that practices often straddled multiple groups. While we continued to
attempt to code the data in this way, in the end, we did not make use of these codes
in our analysis.
Why are they doing it?: For each practice, we asked ourselves, why are they
doing this… what is their goal? Initially we coded openly, making use of codes such
as: ‘they said they would;’ comply; and improve. By comparing the properties of
these codes, we began to group them into two categories of goals: fulfillment and
innovation.