Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics: Online-First Articles

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

Expanding a performative perspective on sustainability communication

Applying trans- and counterformative speech acts

ORCiD logo with link | Vienna University of Economics and Business
 | University of Salzburg
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

This article was made Open Access under a CC BY 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the authors.

Published online: 6 August 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.25210.wed
Abstract
In this conceptual essay, we propose an expansion of a performative perspective on sustainability communication by applying Epstein, Mikhail. 2015. “Paradoxical Speech Acts: Transformatives and Counterformatives.” Parallax 21 (2): 134–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar concept of trans- and counterformatives as paradoxical speech acts. While established speech act theory (Austin, John Langshaw. 1975. How to Do Things with Words: Second Edition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Searle, John R. 1975. “A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts.” In Language, Mind and Knowledge, ed. by Keith Gunderson. Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) has an analytic emphasis on how the performativity of communication is contingent upon iteration and compliance with contextual felicity conditions, Epstein, in his reflections on trans- and counterformatives, shifts the analytic focus on speech acts that subversively provoke contradictions to these conditions to enable their fundamental renegotiation. We point at sustainable economics, activism, and learning as promising discourses for future empirical inquiry of trans- and counterformatives in action. In doing so, we respond to recent criticism of a hegemonic “smooth”, i.e., incremental, progress-, and growth-oriented sustainability discourse of corporate capitalism, by expanding the conceptual repertoire toward speech acts capable of enacting unsettling communicative events for urgent and fundamental change.
Article outline
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. From sustainability communication to sustainable communication
  • 3. Probing the potential of performativity in sustainability communication
  • 4. Expanding a performative perspective on sustainability communication toward trans- and counterformative speech acts
  • 5. Proposals on trans- and counterformatives in action: Sustainable economics, activism, and learning
  • 6. Discussion and conclusion
  • References
References (56)
References
Austin, John Langshaw. 1975. How to Do Things with Words: Second Edition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ban, Zhuo. 2020. “Open for Change but Closed for Transformation: A Communicative Analysis of Managerial Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse on the Issue of Labor.” Organization 27 (6): 900–923. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benson, Melinda Harm, and Robin Kundis Craig. 2017. The End of Sustainability: Resilience and the Future of Environmental Governance in the Anthropocene. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borgerson, Janet. 2005. “Judith Butler: On Organizing Subjectivities.” The Sociological Review 53 (1suppl): 63–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brüggemann, Michael, Anabela Carvalho, Benedetta Brevini, and John Downey. 2023. “Still Watching From the Sidelines? The Case for Transformative Environmental Communication Scholarship.” International Journal of Communication 171: 5732–5754. [URL]
Burns, Heather. 2011. “Teaching for Transformation: (Re)Designing Sustainability Courses Based on Ecological Principles.” Journal of Sustainability Education 21, March 1. [URL]
Buzogány, Aron, and Patrick Scherhaufer. 2022. “Framing Different Energy Futures? Comparing Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion in Germany.” Futures 1371: 102904. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Callon, Michel. 2010. “Performativity, Misfires and Politics.” Journal of Cultural Economy 3 (2): 163–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cassegård, Carl, and Håkan Thörn. 2018. “Toward a Postapocalyptic Environmentalism? Responses to Loss and Visions of the Future in Climate Activism.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 1 (4): 561–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christensen, Lars Thøger, Mette Morsing, and Ole Thyssen. 2013. “CSR as Aspirational Talk.” Organization 20 (3): 372–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. “License to Critique: A Communication Perspective on Sustainability Standards.” Business Ethics Quarterly 27 (2): 239–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Epstein, Mikhail. 2015. “Paradoxical Speech Acts: Transformatives and Counterformatives.” Parallax 21 (2): 134–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ergene, Seray, Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, and Andrew J. Hoffman. 2021. “(Un)Sustainability and Organization Studies: Towards a Radical Engagement.” Organization Studies 42 (8): 1319–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairhurst, Gail T. 2019. “Reflections: Return Paradox to the Wild? Paradox Interventions and Their Implications.” Journal of Change Management 19 (1): 6–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleming, Peter, and Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee. 2016. “When Performativity Fails: Implications for Critical Management Studies.” Human Relations 69 (2): 257–76. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frank, Aliette K. 2017. “What Is the Story with Sustainability? A Narrative Analysis of Diverse and Contested Understandings.” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 7 (2): 310–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Godemann, Jasmin. 2011. “Sustainable Communication as an Inter- and Transdisciplinary Discipline.” In Sustainability Communication: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoretical Foundation, ed. by Jasmin Godemann and Gerd Michelsen, 39–51 Dodrecht: Springer Netherlands. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Golob, Urša, Klement Podnar, and Vesna Zabkar. 2022. “Sustainability Communication.” International Journal of Advertising 42 (1): 42–51. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haack, Patrick, Dennis Schoeneborn, and Christopher Wickert. 2012. “Talking the Talk, Moral Entrapment, Creeping Commitment? Exploring Narrative Dynamics in Corporate Responsibility Standardization.” Organization Studies 33 (5–6): 815–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hallin, Anette, Tina Karrbom-Gustavsson, and Peter Dobers. 2021. “Transition towards and of Sustainability — Understanding Sustainability as Performative.” Business Strategy and the Environment 30 (4): 1948–57. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hansen, Erik G., Dimitar Zvezdov, Dorli Harms and Gilbert Lenssen. (2014). “Advancing Corporate Sustainability, CSR, and Business Ethics. Business & Professional Ethics Journal 33 (4): 287–296. [URL].
Hernes, Tor, and Miriam Feuls. 2024. “Organizing in the Folding of Time: Shaping Organizational Change Trajectories at Turning Points.” Organization Studies 45 (9): 1325–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
James, Paul. 2022. “Re-Embedding the Circular Economy in Circles of Social Life: Beyond the Self-Repairing (and Still-Rapacious) Economy.” Local Environment 27 (10–11): 1208–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krämer, Alexandra, and Winkler, Peter. 2024. “Overcoming the ‘Blame Game’ in Strategic Climate Communication: From Decoupling Accusations Toward an Arena-Spanning Agenda.” Journal of Communication Management 28 (1): 48–57. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lam, Jacqueline C. K., Richard M. Walker, and Peter Hills. 2014. “Interdisciplinarity in Sustainability Studies: A Review.” Sustainable Development 22 (3): 158–76. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leal Filho, Walter, Amanda Lange Salvia, and João Henrique Paulino Pires Eustachio. 2023. “An Overview of the Engagement of Higher Education Institutions in the Implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.” Journal of Cleaner Production 3861: 135694. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Litofcenko, Julia, Andrea Vogler, Michael Meyer, and Martin Mehrwald. 2023. “From Controversy to Common Ground: The Discourse of Sustainability in the Media.” Journal of Language and Politics 22 (5): 661–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Penttilä, Visa. 2020. “Aspirational Talk in Strategy Texts: A Longitudinal Case Study of Strategic Episodes in Corporate Social Responsibility Communication.” Business & Society 59 (1): 67–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plomteux, Adrien. 2024. “Frugal Abundance: Conceptualisation for Degrowth.” Ecological Economics 2221: 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pompper, Donnalyn, (ed.), 2017. Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Ethical Public Relations: Strengthening Synergies with Human Resources. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pyla, Panayiota. 2012. “Beyond Smooth Talk: Oxymorons, Ambivalences, and Other Current Realities of Sustainability.” Design and Culture 4 (3): 273–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schaltegger, Stefan, Katherine Christ, Julius Wenzig, and Roger Leonard Burritt. (2022). “Corporate Sustainability Management Accounting and Multi-level Links for Sustainability — A Systematic Review.” International Journal of Management Reviews 24 (4): 480–500. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schäfer, Mike S., Sabrina Heike Kessler, and Birte Fähnrich. 2020. “Analyzing Science Communication through the Lens of Communication Science: Reviewing the Empirical Evidence.” In Handbooks of Communication Science, edited by Annette Leßmöllmann, Marcelo Dascal, and Thomas Gloning, 480–500. Boston: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schoeneborn, Dennis, Mette Morsing, and Andrew Crane. 2020. “Formative Perspectives on the Relation Between CSR Communication and CSR Practices: Pathways for Walking, Talking, and T(w)Alking.” Business & Society 59 (1): 5–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schoeneborn, Dennis, and Hannah Trittin. 2013. “Transcending Transmission.” Corporate Communications: An International Journal 18 (2): 193–211. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schor, Juliet. 2010. Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth. New York: Penguin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1975. “A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts.” In Language, Mind and Knowledge, ed. by Keith Gunderson. Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1995. The Construction of Social Reality. Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Servaes, Jan. 2022. “Communication for Development and Social Change.” In The Routledge Handbook of Nonprofit Communication, ed. by Gisela Gonçalves and Evandro Oliveira, 23–31. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shah, Prerna, and Janet Z. Yang. 2024. “It Takes Two to Tango: How Ability and Morality Shape Consumers’ Willingness to Refill and Reuse.” Environmental Management 73 (2): 311–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spicer, André and Mats Alvesson. (2025). “Critical management studies: A critical review”. Journal of Management Studies 62 (1):446–483. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sterling, Stephen, and John Huckle. 2014. Education for Sustainability. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takahashi, Bruno, Julia Metag, Jagadish Thaker, and Suzannah Evans Comfort, eds. 2021. The Handbook of International Trends in Environmental Communication. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsohatzidis, Savas L. 2018. Interpreting J. L. Austin. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vásquez, Consuelo and Timothy Kuhn, (eds.). 2019. Dis/Organization as Communication: Exploring the Disordering, Disruptive and Chaotic Properties of Communication. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watzlawick, Paul, Janet Helmick Beavin, and Don D. Jackson. 1967. Pragmatics of Human Communication. Norton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weder, Franzisca. 2022. “Strategic problematization of sustainability reframing dissent in strategic communication for transformation.” Public Relations Inquiry 11.31: 337–360. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2025a. “Sustainability as guiding principle of communicative action the transformative and transformational potential of corporate sustainability communication as niche construction, a case from the energy sector.” Corporate Communications: An International Journal 30.21: 241–259. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2025b. “The In (de) finition of Sustainability: Strategic Communication for Sustainability as Conversational Contestation.” Strategic Sustainability Communication: Principles, Perspectives, and Potential. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland: 3–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, Matthias Karmasin, Larissa Krainer and Denise Voci. 2021. “Sustainability communication as critical perspective in media and communication studies. An introduction.” In The sustainability communication reader: A reflective compendium. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden: 1–12. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, C. Kay Weaver, and Lars Rademacher. 2023. Curating conversations in times of transformation: Convergence in how public relations and journalism are “Doing” communication.” Public Relations Inquiry 12.21: 163–182. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weder, Franzisca, Stella Lemke, and Amornpan Tungarat. 2019. “(Re) storying sustainability: The use of story cubes in narrative inquiries to understand individual perceptions of sustainability.” Sustainability 11.191: 5264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
White, Harrison C., Frédéric C. Godart, and Matthias Thiemann. 2013. “Turning Points and the Space of Possibles: A Relational Perspective on the Different Forms of Uncertainty.” In Applying Relational Sociology: Relations, Networks, and Society, ed. by François Dépelteau and Christopher Powell, 137–154. London: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wise, Deborah, and Melanie James. 2013. “Positioning a Price on Carbon: Applying a Proposed Hybrid Method of Positioning Discourse Analysis for Public Relations.” Public Relations Inquiry 2 (3): 327–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wright, Christopher, and Daniel Nyberg. 2017. “An Inconvenient Truth: How Organizations Translate Climate Change into Business as Usual.” Academy of Management Journal 60 (5): 1633–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue