Abstract
The aim of the study was to explore how private medical aid service providers in South Africa engage their stakeholders in making meaning of their organisational purpose in response to corporate sustainability challenges in their environment. An extensive literature review was conducted in which relevant terminology, theoretical concepts, theories, models and overview of best practices were critically discussed against the contextual backdrop of global disruption. This global disrupted state saw people across the world traversing unknown territory while grappling with challenges such as the viability of sustainable development goals, the management of the pandemic fall-out and escalating climate change, and an increasing distrust in governments coupled with an increasing expectation by society that businesses should respond to broader societal challenges. As a result, corporate sustainability has become a key focus area on the corporate agenda and an important part of the business strategy, and this has also extended into the healthcare sector. The concept of corporate sustainability along with its three tenets, namely organisational purpose, creating shared-value (CSV) and environmental, social and governance (ESG), were critically discussed in the conceptual and theoretical framework of this study. This has given rise to a new paradigm of business where people are demanding more from businesses. Leading with a purpose is no longer a bonus but has become an expectation of businesses as social enterprises. Purpose has become the “North Star” that can tie a plethora of ESG programmes together in a clear and concise message.
The communication as constitutive of organisation (CCO) approach was regarded as the most suitable theoretical framework for the study given that, from an epistemological perspective, the concept of organisation was approached using a social systems lens. The CCO approach allows for mutual interaction and co-creation, while providing an example of how corporate sustainability can be constituted through communication. Emphasis was placed on the medical aid service provider as a manager of meaning – a curator – that not only constructs the message but curates the process to ensure that value resonates with the stakeholder and that meaning is created around the organisation’s purpose as corporate sustainability strategy.
The study used an exploratory qualitative research design, and data collection was done by means of documentation analysis and semi-structured in-depth interviews with executive management and communication strategists of the top private medical aid service providers in South Africa, as well as national and international experts in the fields of sustainability and branding. A total of 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with this purposive stratified sample of participants. The data was analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) latent thematic analysis technique. Atlas.ti was used to code the data. This allowed for themes to emerge which were interpreted against the underlying theory and literature, offering further insights into the research problem and questions at hand.
The findings indicate that corporate sustainability in medical aid service providers is a dual concept that focuses on financial sustainability while also manifesting as a consciousness about the organisation’s impact on society. The business operating model of the medical aid service provider has a major influence on how sustainability is currently managed and communicated. Reporting on ESG is high on the medical aid service providers’ agenda, although this has not been integrated as part of their business strategy in all instances. In contrast, little engagement with CSV has been found among medical aid providers. Moreover, all medical aid service providers have adopted a purpose with/beyond profit approach, while some brands are still in their elementary stages,
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meaning that sustainability initiatives are approached within the ambit of corporate social investment.
This study makes an original contribution to the field of knowledge as it highlights how organisations can use an integrated sustainability framework as part of a business strategy and a pragmatic approach in communicating that strategy to their stakeholders through their business purpose. It also highlights that corporate sustainability needs collective and collaborative efforts from corporates who partner with each other, government and other entities to bring about social change. The thesis concludes with an integrated corporate sustainability framework depicting the organisation as a curator of meaning when engaging stakeholders at various levels of organisational functioning with regard to organisational purpose, aligned with culture, leadership and governance. For instance, guided by the CCO approach, the way in which organisational purpose is narrated among the internal and external stakeholders of medical aid service providers can have an inherent organising ability and become conducive to new ways of co-creating meaning around collective organisational responses to wickedly complex challenges facing society, such as sustainability.
Keywords: global disrupted state; sustainability; corporate sustainability; communicative constitution of organisations (CCO); organisational purpose; environmental, social and governance (ESG); creating shared-value (CSV); healthcare; medical aid service providers; sensegiving; meaning-making.