Managing Hype for Sustainability: Exploring Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies in Organizational Contexts - Thesis

[Geoengineering News]

https://www.aalto.fi/sites/default/files/2025-10/Master_Pohto_Laura_2025.pdf

Authors: Laura Pohto

Abstract 

While hype is widely studied, the management of its implications remains an emerging domain. Even less is known about how organizations manage hype at the firm level despite its recurring presence, especially in sustainability contexts. In these settings, the implications of hype are inherently complex: some argue that it can advance certain climate objectives while others suggest that it can hinder broader sustainability. Managing these adverse sustainability implications is therefore timely yet underrepresented in the literature. This study focuses on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies in Finland, where hype is particularly pronounced. Drawing on an abductive qualitative design, this study examines how organizations respond to CDR technology hype, how it may shape sustainability commitments, and potential strategies to manage it. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with six industry practitioners and analyzed using a Gioia-guided thematic method. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that organizations respond to CDR hype reflexively through various sensemaking mechanisms and that existing organizational practices function as informal hype management practices at the firm level. Accordingly, hype was rarely reported by the practitioners to explicitly shape decision-making or sustainability commitments, reflecting selective engagement to this phenomenon. Nonetheless, the potential implications of hype are found to be nuanced as its strategic influences may subtly emerge over time. This study also finds that, at a practical level, hype management is viewed as instrumental for sustainability even though current practices remain broadly detached from it. In this context, while organizations systematically evaluate the sustainability aspects of CDR technologies, these considerations rarely extend to the hype surrounding these methods. This suggests that the potentially adverse implications of hype for sustainability remain largely overlooked in practice. The findings of this study provide insights for managers to further develop hype management at the practical level and to integrate strong sustainability into these considerations. While substantial further research is needed to test the patterns observed in this study, these contributions nonetheless point to the promising role of strengthened hype management in the pursuit of sustainability.

Source: aalto