Place and Sense of Place: Implications for Organizational Studies of Sustainability

Notions of place and sense of place appear more frequently in organizational research, reflecting the growing influence of human and cultural geography on the field. This article argues that scholars should continue to explore and refine research on sustainability by engaging with these issues through concrete research on place and sense of place. After discussing the diverse ways these terms are used in scholarship outside our field, the article considers ways in which they have been used in organizational studies of sustainability and identifies ways of extending this work, including a preliminary agenda for future research. By incorporating place and sense of place, organizational scholars may find more comprehensive and transformative understandings of sustainability.