Ba­lan­cing the Bo­un­da­ri­es in Banking: The Role of Bu­si­ness Mo­dels and Bo­un­da­ri­es in Sustai­na­bi­li­ty Work

Thordis Katla Bjartmarz's research examines how sustainability reshapes the boundaries of banking business models. While banks face increasing regulatory and societal pressure to engage with sustainability agendas, integration often remains fragmented and peripheral. Adopting a boundary-based perspective, the dissertation investigates how sustainability work unfolds within and across organizational boundaries in banking. 

Drawing on qualitative research in the Nordic banking sector, the study explores how sustainability is negotiated, enacted, and integrated through organizational practices and stakeholder interactions, positioning sustainability integration not as a discrete function but as a boundary-crossing process shaped by ongoing interaction and reconfiguration across actors, practices, and organizational domains.

The thesis contributes to research on sustainable business models and organizational boundaries by showing how sustainability work is shaped through the configuration, maintenance, and reworking of organizational boundaries across business models. The thesis offers a relational account of sustainability work and implies that for sustainability work to lead to sustainability integration in banking organizations, it requires ongoing boundary work, boundary spanning, and stakeholder interaction, along with a change in norms and values. In doing so, it highlights sustainability integration as a collective, boundary-crossing process rather than a singular strategic decision.