Greening from within: the role of organisational purpose shift in building internal legitimacy for fossil fuel incumbents’ green innovation
通过对一家挪威石油巨头20年的纵向案例研究，揭示了组织目标从盈利导向转向可持续价值导向如何帮助化石燃料企业为绿色创新建立内部合法性，但也指出这种转变若仅选择性、渐进式实现会阻碍全面脱碳。
Green innovation that reduces harmful emissions and impacts on the natural environment is crucial in combatting the climate crisis. Yet, incumbents in carbon-intensive industries struggle with its development due to their lack of organisational commitment. We investigate how fossil fuel incumbents can overcome this obstacle and build internal legitimacy for green innovation. Through a longitudinal case study of a Norwegian oil major over 20 years, we highlight the important role of organisational purpose shift. We derive a process model of how fossil fuel incumbents can shift from a goal-based organisational purpose focused on profitability towards a duty-based purpose connected to sustainability-oriented values, building internal legitimacy for green innovation. Our study also demonstrates that organisational purpose shift, when only selectively and gradually realised, impedes full decarbonisation. We contribute to the literature on innovation studies by discussing how organisational purpose shift and internal legitimacy can enhance sustainable innovation in fossil fuel incumbents.