Sustainability professionals typically hold personal motivations that influence their career choices and are likely to take an interest in the environmental and social impacts of their non-work behaviours as well as their workplace actions. People also tend to expect congruous identities across the different roles we play, and so sustainability professionals also face expectations from others regarding their behaviours outside of work. For example, should sustainability professionals avoid air travel for leisure?

In this research, funded by the British Academy of Management (Grant Ref: 2025‑T1‑525) and taking place from 2026-27, I explore how sustainability professionals negotiate and rationalise differences in moral judgements made across roles, taking inspiration from the theory of role morality. Focus groups with sustainability professionals will be conducted to analyse how participants intersubjectively construct accounts of moral decision-making related to sustainability. I use a discursive psychology approach to identify patterns in discursive strategies used to negotiate role morality issues, focusing on the details of language used in sequentially unfolding interactions.

The study will produce new psychological insights into common ways people justify differences in moral decision-making across roles through specific discursive practices. The findings will be shared with sustainability professionals to develop shared awareness of effective strategies for managing role morality expectations. This discursive approach to role morality contrasts with my earlier quantitative survey-based paper on role morality and ethical purchasing.