Franzisca Weder

In this conceptual essay, we propose an expansion of a performative perspective on sustainability communication by applying Epstein’s (2015) concept of trans- and counterformatives as paradoxical speech acts. While established speech act theory ( Austin 1975 ; Searle 1975 ) has an analytic emphasis on how the performativity of communication is contingent upon iteration and compliance with contextual felicity conditions, Epstein, in his reflections on trans- and counterformatives, shifts the analytic focus on speech acts that subversively provoke contradictions to these conditions to enable their fundamental renegotiation. We point at sustainable economics, activism, and learning as promising discourses for future empirical inquiry of trans- and counterformatives in action. In doing so, we respond to recent criticism of a hegemonic “smooth”, i.e., incremental, progress-, and growth-oriented sustainability discourse of corporate capitalism, by expanding the conceptual repertoire toward speech acts capable of enacting unsettling communicative events for urgent and fundamental change.

Purpose: Since the beginning of 2025, the US Government aimed at dismantling Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs across industries – after years where DEI efforts picked up pace, including in the private sector. This paper investigates DEI reporting and evaluates if DEI engagement has been an adaptation-based trend and can be taken away like a label, or if it is cultivated in organizational contexts and has re-organized them with the potential to mitigate the dramatic change in policy. Design/methodology/approach: DEI reporting within the banking sector across Italy, Brazil and the United States is analyzed with a mixed-methods approach, combining cross-linguistic corpus-assisted discourse analysis, qualitative visual analysis and expert interviews to assess DEI reporting across countries and its underlying drivers. Findings: DEI reporting is primarily shaped by market expectations and rating agencies rather than a reflection of deep organizational change. Across countries, heteronormativity and racial stereotyping persist, reinforcing the very power structures DEI efforts aim to challenge. Thus, DEI reporting appears as a fleeting business trend. This supports the assumption that DEI reporting and engagement are more adaptation-based and are more likely to fall under a new, dismissive policy. Originality/value: This study provides comprehensive insights into DEI reporting as one so far under-researched area of sustainability communication and highlights its unrealized transformative potential – which is now coming to light. It contributes to diversity management, leadership and social responsibility communication by emphasizing that DEI reporting brings transformative potential but has to fully realize its impact within organizational structures to secure its long-term relevance.

Based on recent work outlining the transformation of professional communicator roles and the desperate search for “curators” or “agents of change” in neighboring disciplines such as management, business and economics, sustainability studies and education, we present a systematic reflection of concepts in higher education for sustainability and their (missing) fit to professional communication education in a world in crisis. The blind spots and challenges identified, especially from a communication perspective, will be filled with concepts from environmental communication pedagogy, pointing to the need for more participatory strategies and radicality in professional communication education. Concrete modalities of instruction will be discussed and supported by eight reconstruction interviews with pedagogues, educators and students from diverse cultural contexts involved in sustainability communication education. The findings show the need for more radical pedagogy and unorthodoxy. The paper finishes with suggestions for practices that materialize sustainability in co-created sites of change.

Public relations roles have been the subject of considerable scholarly investigation. However, conceptual and empirical work in this area has focused predominantly on the relationship between public relations and journalism and debates around ethics and professionalization; the link between role perceptions and actual role performance in practice remains opaque. In the current context of a permacrisis, environmental catastrophes, and political disruptions and demarcations on a global, national and local level, there is an urgent need for socio-ecological transformation and authentic sustainable development. This research asks what are the roles and perceived responsibilities of public relations professionals in this change process and how (much) perceived agency for change tests traditional boundaries between the professional and personal role? Through in depth, reflexive narrative interviews ( n = 16), anchoring professional roles in their actual performance, we compare public relations practitioners’ ideals and practices in a traditionally green environment, in this case Austria, and the US, where sustainability communication is less regulated with less binding legal requirements – even before the most recent policy shifts. The findings show that professional communicators are claiming what we conceptualize as narrative agency in change contexts, focusing on ethics in the act of storytelling and dialogicality. This research expands the scope of public relations scholarship and particularly previous work on agency in a world in transition.

Sustainability is increasingly established as a master frame for transformation in public communication processes and influences social practices, attitudes, and behavior on an individual level by adding value and morality to it (i.e., differentiating “good” from “bad” consumption behavior). The question of how far sustainability is a normative principle, and the Sustainable Development Goals the related normative framework that guides and potentially moralizes food-related decision-making, is explored and answered with empirical data from an exploratory qualitative pilot study. We conducted three series of guideline-based interviews with national and international respondents from Austria (25) and national respondents from Australia (5) and Indonesia (5) to gather information on individual perceptions of food choices and eating behaviors. Interview data was analyzed using inductive category formation (Mayring & Fenzl, 2019). Based on the results of the pilot study, we hypothesize that sustainability is not a defining moment in decision-making, however, has the character of a moral imperative related to a specific eating behavior. Despite methodological limitations, outlined at the end of the chapter, the research insights challenge existing literature on food consumption and environmental communication, which treats sustainability as a “new” or “normalized,” and therefore established, norm and asks for more empirical research on defining non-mediated communicative moments leading to behavior changes.

This study explores how consumers in developed and developing countries perceive sustainable food consumption and how these perceptions are shaped by local contexts. Using the theory of social representations, which frames sustainability as a system of values, ideas, and practices, we conducted a mixed-methods analysis of data from online focus groups in ten countries. The results reveal significant differences between sustainability frontrunners in developed countries and consumers in developing countries. Consumers in developed countries focus on immanent representations, linking sustainability to concrete practices such as recycling, buying organic products, and brand awareness. In contrast, consumers in developing countries adopt more transcendent views, emphasizing moral responsibility, tradition, and collective well-being, and often expecting government regulation to drive change. Barriers such as high cost, lack of knowledge, and skepticism reflect underlying socio-economic inequalities, particularly in developing contexts. The study highlights how global sustainability norms interact with local realities, revealing mismatches that limit the effectiveness of universal approaches. These findings underscore the need for context-sensitive policies and strategies that address local barriers while remaining consistent with global sustainability goals. More broadly, this research underscores the necessity of culturally tailored approaches to promote equitable and inclusive socio-ecological transformations.

Purpose: This paper expands on existing analyses of corporate energy and sustainability communication and shows the potential of evolutionary theory to study and conceptualize sustainable corporate communication as niche construction and its transformative and transformational potential.Design/methodology/approach: With a qualitative content analysis of non-financial reporting of energy corporations and a deep dive into one selected case (Yin, 2013) with a two-step categorization of the sustainability related text and (n = 5) expert interviews (QCAmap, Mayring, 2019; Fenzl and Mayring, 2017), the paper reflects on alterations within the organization and in the organization–stakeholder relationships through corporate sustainability communication.Findings: The analytical deep dive into one case of corporate sustainability communication of a multinational energy corporation shows the difference between a transformative and transformational character of corporate communication. The insights from the interviews support the assumption that corporates not only adapt to changes of environmental factors (perturbative communication) but also – however rarely – alter their spatiotemporal relationships with their external environment (relocational communication), so there is a lack of actual transformational communication.Originality/value: Corporates in the (renewable) energy sector as well as industry networks like gas (infrastructure) suppliers have the potential to impact their environment (stakeholder, energy communities, etc.), change cultural patterns and norms and co-construct new socio-ecological niches through communication. The study presented gives evidence and examples for transformative corporate sustainability communication. On a conceptual level, it offers an innovative framework to understand sustainability as a guiding principle for corporate communication that will stimulate corporate communication research in the future.