Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly called upon to address sustainability issues along their supply chains. We advance prior literature on this topic by building on the argument that comprehending individual-level sensemaking is the foundational step for understanding the design and execution of corporate sustainability strategy. Hence, we undertook a qualitative study of one European agri-food MNE and captured how internal and external stakeholders along two entire supply chain segments, reaching into India and Ethiopia, respectively, make sense of farmer livelihoods as one particular sustainability issue. Using Weick’s stages of sensemaking as our theoretical lens, we find a high degree of diversity in interpretations regarding (1) the nature of the sustainability challenge, (2) the MNE’s motives for addressing it, and (3) the potential solutions to it. However, consistent patterns emerge for the three sensemaking stages in relation to the individual’s position in the supply chain. As a result of our analysis, we develop a conceptual model that elucidates differences in sensemaking of sustainability challenges by actors at different positions along global supply chains. Building on our findings, we offer a detailed explanation of how individual sensemaking influences collective sensemaking and, in turn, the direction and effectiveness of corporate strategy on sustainability.

跨国企业 (MNE) 越来越多地被要求解决其供应链中的可持续发展问题。我们基于以下论点推进了有关该主题的先前文献：理解个人层面的意义建构是理解企业可持续发展战略的设计和执行的基础步骤。因此，我们对一家欧洲农业食品跨国公司进行了定性研究，并了解了两个整个供应链细分市场（分别进入印度和埃塞俄比亚）的内部和外部利益相关者如何将农民生计视为一个特定的可持续发展问题。使用维克的意义建构阶段作为我们的理论镜头，我们发现对以下方面的解释存在高度多样性：（1）可持续发展挑战的性质，（2）跨国公司解决该问题的动机，以及（3）潜在的解决方案。然而，与个人在供应链中的地位相关的三个意义建构阶段出现了一致的模式。根据我们的分析，我们开发了一个概念模型，阐明了全球供应链中不同位置的参与者对可持续发展挑战的理解差异。基于我们的发现，我们详细解释了个人意义建构如何影响集体意义建构，以及企业可持续发展战略的方向和有效性。