On the German Football Association’s (DFB) Narrative and Its Sustainability Strategy

Authors

  • Marianne Grove Ditlevsen Aarhus University, Denmark
  • Martin Nielsen Aarhus University, Denmark

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/linguistica.64.1.161-180

Keywords:

sustainability communication, storytelling, analysis of isotopies, strategy documents, sports organizations

Abstract

The paper deals with sustainability communication in light of the changing role of organizations, implying that not only governments, but also organizations have to take responsibility for a sustainable development. As a consequence, many organizations develop sustainability strategies as part of their overall organizational strategies. Often such sustainability strategies are expressed in concrete sustainability strategy documents, seen as strategy texts, i.e. texts used to regulate organizational behavior and decision-making processes in order to reach the overall organizational strategic goals and objectives, decided on by management. However, from a communication perspective, we know very little about such sustainability strategy documents. Based on this, it is the aim of this paper to examine how sustainability strategies are textually conveyed in ­order (1) to discuss how organizations position themselves in terms of sustainability and (2) to contribute to the study of the communication of sustainability strategies. The sustainability strategy document of the ‘der Deutsche Fußball Bund’ (DFB), the German Football Association, serves as the empirical data for the study. The DFB is one of the many organizations, but one of the few German sport associations, which deals strate­gically with sustainability as its well-developed and information-rich ­organizational website shows. Based on a combined storytelling analysis and analysis of isotopies, it becomes evident that the DFB positions itself as a responsible, pro-active, and altruistic social actor when it comes to overcoming a negative sustainability state-of-the art and, thus, contributing to a sustainable development. Besides being active, the contribution of DFB consists of the sustainability strategy itself with its many initiatives and the corporate identity of DFB, including its values. Finally, the nature of football, being the sport that DFB represents, plays an important part in the construction of the corporate identity of DFB throughout the DFB sustainability strategy document.

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Published

23. 12. 2024

How to Cite

Grove Ditlevsen, M., & Nielsen, M. (2024). On the German Football Association’s (DFB) Narrative and Its Sustainability Strategy. Linguistica, 64(1), 161-180. https://doi.org/10.4312/linguistica.64.1.161-180