Willing & Able: Configurations for a Paradoxical Frame in Corporate Sustainability

Literature on cognitive frame in sustainability suggests adopting a paradoxical frame can support firms dealing with sustainability tensions, leading organizations to achieve better social and environmental outcomes. Against an increasing literature testifying the potential of this frame at the organizational leve, little is known about its antecedents. How can organizations develop this promising frame? Building on the existing, scattered knowledge within the literature on antecedents in paradox and sustainability research and on cognitive frame in sustainability we identify three key organizational-level conditions behind a collective paradoxical frame: sustainability relevance, resources availability, and stakeholder pressures. By mean of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on original survey data, we offer a first attempt to define pathways to the development of a paradoxical organizational cognitive frame toward sustainability tensions, investigating the micro-foundations of paradox cognitive frame at the organizational level. Four paradoxical paths are identified (committed, value focused, strategic, will & able), showing the need for the concurrent presence of willingness to address sustainability – to respond to internal or external stakeholders' pressures – and the availability of resources to effectively address it.