Barriers in the Initial Acceptance Phase to Life-Cycle-Assessment : A Case Study of a Swedish Manufacturer

Sammanfattning: Purpose: Sustainability and sustainable manufacturing has grown in importance in recent years, and more legislation and demands are put on organizations to show how their operations affect the environment. Life cycle assessment is a proactive and efficient sustainability tool to report a company’s effects on the environment. Nevertheless, life cycle assessments of products and organizations are complex and require significant resources. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate what potential barriers can occur within the initial acceptance phase when implementing life cycle assessment in the manufacturing industry. Method: This research project is a single case study of a Swedish manufacturing company. The theory was deduced from literature where eight internal factors influencing the implementation of tools and systems created a foundation for data collection and analysis. Five semi-structured interviews and unstructured observations have been conducted to collect empirical data. Findings: Nine second-order themes of factors influencing the project as barriers have been identified that construct the three aggregate dimensions ̈Lack of management support ̈, ̈Lack of resources ̈, and ̈Lack of interdepartmental coordination ̈. From the empirical findings, it is also suggested that the three aggregate dimensions are interrelated. The interrelationships are later used to find three change suggestions to mitigate the barriers by using the relationships between the dimensions and targeting as many barriers as possible. Namely, ̈educate top management ̈, ̈enhance the education of project participants ̈, and ̈spend more time on project planning ̈. Implications: This study provides a deeper and more detailed understanding of different barriers within the initial acceptance phase of a project. It also gives further insights into various interrelationships between barriers and how one dimension can influence the other in both positive and negative ways. Furthermore, this study's findings can guide managers and practitioners in preparing for a project aiming to implement a tool or a system. Limitations: As in all interpretative research, the interpretations of the empirical data are based on subjective thoughts influenced by the researcher’s positionality, the relationships with the participants, and preconceived perceptions. Furthermore, this research project is a single case study, and the results apply to this case. The findings cannot be statistically generalizable, meaning that the theories and themes created in this report should not be seen as absolute truths but instead as suggestive theories within the field.