15808: Organisational Purpose and Climate Leadership in a Polarized World

Monday, July 28, 2025

13:45 - 15:15 CEST (GMT+2)

Location: Bella Center: Hall B- B2-m3

Session Type: Symposium (panel)
Orientation: Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/bRawB8

Organizer(s)

BS

Birthe Soppe

U. of Innsbruck School of Management, Austria
UA

Urszula Ayache

University of Oslo, Norway
HS

Hannah Schupfer

Kings College London, United Kingdom

Panelist(s)

MB

Marya Besharov

Oxford U., Saïd Business School, United Kingdom
NC

Nathania Ancheta Chua

WU Vienna, Austria
RD

Rodolphe Durand

HEC Paris, France
CH

Chang Wa Huynh

ESCP Business School, France

In an era marked by the urgent need to address the climate crisis, organizations face unprecedented pressure to move beyond profit maximization and assume a leadership role in combating global warming. While climate change is a fundamental societal challenge, it is also a polarizing issue, proving strongly opposing viewpoints and creating fractures within organizations and society. This symposium explores the role of organizational purpose in driving climate leadership amid increasingly fragmented and polarized organizational and institutional landscapes. Key discussions will focus on the opportunities and challenges organizations face when enacting a pro-environmental and pro-social purpose in an increasingly polarized world, the intraorganizational dynamics and leadership challenges that arise when linking organizational purpose to societal issues, and the dilemmas and barriers that may impede taking on climate leadership. By bringing together leading scholars from organizational and strategic scholarship, the symposium aims to advance the research frontiers on organizational purpose and foster a dialogue on impactful scholarship.