PLEASE DO NOT CITE WITHOUT AUTHORS’ PERMISSION Infusing Sustainability into New Product Development Practices: The Role of External Triggers and Internal Actors in Pursuing Change

While there has been growing recognition that considering environmental and social aspects of sustainability is important for a firm’s reputation and long-term survival, research so far focused on strategic goals and how sustainability becomes relevant and less so on how sustainability practices become embedded and mainstreamed. Our paper addresses the change process of initiating sustainability practices in the context of new product development and how they unfold over time using results from a longitudinal case study in four multinational companies. Based on structuration theory and practice theory, we propose a theoretical framework for change processes around sustainability that incorporates the effects of external triggers and individual actors in initiating and mainstreaming sustainability-focused NPD practices.