Sustainability-oriented learning: evidence from Eyre Peninsula’s fishing industry in Australia

Abstract

Despite the growing intersection between sustainability and organisational learning, current empirical research offers limited understanding of specific ways in which an industry learns to be sustainable. This paper explores industry sustainability from an organisational learning perspective in the Eyre Peninsula’s fishing industry in Australia. Drawing on organisational learning literature, it argues that a better understanding of how an industry pursues sustainability is necessary if we explore the specific ways in which they learn. The findings from our analysis of data from interviews with 54 participants support and underscore the importance of learning through social networks and interactions, observation, experimentation, experiences and formal education in order to adopt socially, economically and environmentally sustainable practices. To develop a sustainable industry, managers and stakeholders should explore the specific ways in which they learn. This paper advances current studies that seek to understand industry commitment towards sustainability from an organisational learning perspective.