Sufficiency as a New Form of Organizing in an Age of Planetary Boundaries

Mathias Guérineau () and Julie Mayer ()
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Mathias Guérineau: LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Nantes Univ - IAE Nantes - Nantes Université - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Sociétés - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université, CRG I3 - Centre de Recherche en Gestion I3 - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Julie Mayer: CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Planetary boundaries urge humans to reverse their relation to nature, by considering themselves as a part of nature and by reaching natural ecosystems regeneration. This paradigm shift compels humans to moderate their activities, to stay within a "safe operating space", by being, doing and having "just enough". Still, since rationally limited humans cannot individually reach enough-ness, they rely on organizations to collectively define and reach this purpose. We draw on Princen's work on "sufficiency", to theorize the search for enough-ness as an organizing principle. Specifically, we use a multi-level approach on goal-setting to develop a theory about how to set organizational goals of enough-ness. We derive three relational mechanisms (sensing, valuing, and binding) that explain how organizational actors can willingly adapt their aspirations to fit with natural interdependencies. Organizational goals, in turn, bind behaviors and outcomes, allowing human societies, at aggregated level, to remain in a safe operating space. Our work contributes to sustainability theories by laying the foundations of a model of "climate-proofed" organizing to operate within finite natural ecosystems.

Keywords: Organizations; and; the; Natural; Environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-06-17
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Published in Academy of Management Proceedings, 2025, 2025 (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05311491

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