New Research Project: Internal Sustainability Communication from the Perspective of Employees

(21.07.2026) In recent years, sustainability has increasingly become a central strategic issue for companies in Germany. Companies face the challenge of not only incorporating sustainability into their goals and decisions, but also communicating and implementing the necessary changes within the organization.

Employees play a key role in this context. They make a decisive contribution to whether corporate sustainability initiatives can be successfully implemented. After all, they must support changes and decisions in their day-to-day work and can actively promote sustainable practices within the company. At the same time, their reactions can also lead to such developments being blocked.

Against this backdrop, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Röttger’s research project examines employees’ attitudes, perspectives, and preferences regarding sustainability as well as internal sustainability communication efforts. At the heart of the study is an online survey of approximately 1,000 employees from companies based in Germany. The research project is being conducted by Prof. Dr. Ulrike Röttger, Vicky Wagemann, and Patrick Dietz.

The Günter Thiele Foundation for Communication & Management (Leipzig) is funding the project for a period of 9 months, through March 2027.

Contact person public relations:
Dr Stephan Völlmicke
Telefon: +49 251 83-23006
Telefax: +49 251 83-21310 (Geschäftszimmer IfK)