The Effects of Uncertainty on Decision Making Processes regarding Companies’ Carbon Footprint

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge of how uncertainty affects decision making processes regarding carbon footprint. This study explores companies' perspectives on what uncertainties they experience, how these uncertainties affect their decision making processes and how the companies handle these uncertainties. The study’s data is generated through semi-structured interviews with informants involved in decision-making regarding carbon footprint from ten different companies. The result shows that companies experience several uncertainties in the decision making processes regarding carbon footprint. Uncertainty slows down the decision-making process, creates a need to gather more information and manage contradictions in the gathered information as well as creates opportunities for innovation. Companies also experience that the processes regarding carbon footprint are sometimes incompatible with their traditional decision-making systems. In order to handle the uncertainties and their effects, this study shows how companies use reducing and coping strategies. Companies reduce uncertainty through research, proactive collaborations and networking. Companies cope with uncertainty through being flexible, imitating other companies, controlling through agreements, delaying decisions and through reactive collaborations aimed at shifting uncertainty onto competitors and stakeholders. Companies' organisational structure and their decision making processes influence how companies handle uncertainty in decision-making regarding carbon footprint. Recommendations for further research include further investigation of the potential possibilities of uncertainty, of how to build an organisation that can handle uncertainty and further investigation of the integration of sustainability into companies' existing decision making processes.