Annie Snelson-Powell

I am interested in how organisations respond to the pressure to be more sustainable in their operations and products. In particular I study the gaps that emerge between organisational policies and strategies for sustainability and their activities in practice. This kind of decoupling, or organisational 'green-washing', is a risky strategy, not least in its failure to address urgent global challenges related to the continuing well-being of society and the natural environment. My research involves institutional theory and in particular the concept of decoupling. I look at different kinds of decoupling - for example, unintended decoupling - and what motivates decoupling at different organisational levels. I have looked at this phenomenon in various empirical settings, including the context of business schools and their commitments to responsible management education and the context of humans rights abuses in the coal and mining sector.