Competencies for impact management : mapping an emerging cross-functional role in sustainability practice

Abstract

The growing impact of sustainability and impact goals into business strategy has given rise to a new role the Impact Manager. Although it is increasingly becoming relevant, the field is not standardized yet in terms of role definition, competencies and training. This thesis develops an empirically grounded competency framework for Impact Managers through qualitative, interpretivist research. The study uses a qualitative, interpretivist as well as an inductive research design guided by competency-based, role, and institutional theories. Six interviews with experts and more than twenty practitioner's interviews via the PILLARS Project were used to gather data. Five major themes were outlined with the help of the Gioia approach, they included defining the scope of impact management, core competencies of impact practice, learning pathways, organizational context, and design of curriculum. The proposed study is a four-dimensional competency framework that includes systems and analytical thinking, ethical and reflective practice, stakeholder engagement, and strategic integration. The results demonstrate that experiential, interdisciplinary, and value-based learning are the most effective dimensions in helping to develop impact management competencies. The study contributes to the theoretical knowledge of the new professional roles of Impact Management in business and management and offers practical advice to organizations that plan to design impact positions and instructors that create training systems to address the needs of sustainability-focused leadership.