COMPETING FOR SUSTAINABILITY: Sensemaking and organisational engagement in European tourism competitions

Sustainability competitions are widely used as soft governance instruments, yet organisational engagement varies considerably. This study explains this variation by examining managerial sensemaking. Drawing on interviews with senior managers from 16 European destinations, the study shows that engagement is shaped by how tourist destination managers interpret the purpose and relevance of competitions through organisational identity orientations. Identity orientations determine whether competitions are treated as meaningful governance mechanisms or as marginal compliance or reputational exercises. We identify five sensemaking configurations that explain variation between substantive, learning-oriented engagement and selective or symbolic responses, and show that these configurations may shift over time as organisational experiences and contexts change.