Institutional Work in the Transfer of Sustainability Practices Within a Multinational Company

Abstract

Drawing on studies regards institutional work carried out by specific actors to prompt practice transfer, this paper explores the practice work and boundary work required to transfer sustainability practices within a Multinational Company (MNC). To address this purpose, we perform a single case study on an MNC headquartered in the USA that transfers “Diversity & Inclusion” practices to a division operating in Italy. We shed light on the work necessary to transfer sustainability practices originating from an advanced institutional context to another context with weaker institutions. Our findings reveal that local champions and boundary spanners play a key role in the MNC practice transfer, while emerging symbolic boundaries may hinder it. Hence, we offer conceptual and practical insights that can alert scholars and managers to the specific works and actions necessary to transfer sustainability practices between different country contexts on behalf of MNCs.