Actor engagement behaviors as forms of institutional work: insights from a food waste setting

Drawing on service-dominant logic (S-D Logic) as a coordinating meta-theory, the paper seeks to understand how actor engagement behaviors (AEBs) serve as forms of institutional work (IW).
The study utilizes Nethnography in a food waste setting, collecting data from social media campaigns on Facebook in two countries.
The paper frames a range of AEBs as forms of IW which reveal the potential for AEBs to serve as catalysts for institutional change. Leadership work behaviors are introduced as mechanisms that synchronize other behaviors.
By integrating engagement and IW as mid-range theories in a sustainability setting, this research 1) highlights the relevance and flexibility of S-D Logic as a framework for addressing contemporary societal challenges, 2) conceptualizes AEBs as forms of IW, allowing a new framing of AEBs as mechanisms for institutional change, and 3) reveals how organizations shape engagement, through leadership work that consolidates and mitigates engagement behaviors, thereby synchronizing individual actions into collective engagement to foster sustainable and enduring institutional change.