The Complexity of Communicating Sustainability in a Co-Creative Context : a case study of a co-creative incubator

Abstract: This thesis is concerned with the complexity of communicating sustainability in a co-creative context. Sustainability is seen as three dimension, namely economic sustainability, social sustainability and environmental sustainability. This thesis includes all three dimensions in the sustainability communication. The purpose is to investigate how sustainability can be understood and explained in a co-creative incubator. Since the research of sustainability communication within the co-creative literature is relatively undiscovered this thesis makes an attempt to conceptualise the sustainability communication. The context of the study is a single case study of an incubator with a co-creative approach. The research took an abductive approach with the method of a qualitative empirical collection. The empirical data collection consists of semistructured interviews with actors in the co-creative incubator, namely top management, business designers and startups. Findings reveal that the sustainability communication can be understood and explained through a challenge based view. Every startup face different challenges and sustainability is communicated accordingly. However, the communication of economic sustainability is more direct than the other two dimensions. Additionally, the complex communication in the co-creative incubator shed new lights on the concept of trust within co-creation. The intensity of sustainability communication implies to be dependent on trust between incubator and startups. This thesis adds original insights to the field of combining co-creation and incubators, specifically factors that influence the sustainability communication in the co-creative incubator.