Cognitive frames help companies make sense of the intrinsic tensions of sustainability issues and influence how they respond to calls for sustainability over time. Yet, cognitive frames have been investigated as a static feature and previous studies have overlooked the evolutionary dynamics that can lead an organization to change its own frame. This study observes the evolution of life cycle management implementation through the theory of cognitive frames. We conducted a longitudinal multiple case study of 10 SMEs involved in a European-funded project. Over a three-year period we examined how cognitive approaches to sustainability issues changed according to different learning mindsets. A total of three cognitive frames and two learning mindsets were revealed from the analysis, thus providing two important contributions. First, cognitive frames are not static in time, but can change to give more importance to the environmental sustainability of a life cycle. Second, the type of learning mindsets that managers in SMEs share can trigger changes in organizational cognitive frames.

中文翻译：

---

中小企业如何有效地融入环境可持续性？关于认知框架、生命周期管理和组织学习过程之间关系的证据

认知框架帮助公司理解可持续发展问题的内在张力，并随着时间的推移影响他们如何响应可持续发展的呼吁。然而，认知框架已被作为一种静态特征进行调查，而先前的研究忽略了可能导致组织改变其自身框架的进化动力学。本研究通过认知框架理论观察生命周期管理实施的演变。我们对参与欧洲资助项目的 10 家中小企业进行了纵向多案例研究。在三年的时间里，我们研究了可持续性问题的认知方法如何根据不同的学习心态发生变化。从分析中总共揭示了三个认知框架和两种学习心态，从而提供了两个重要贡献。第一的，认知框架在时间上不是静止的，而是可以改变以更加重视生命周期的环境可持续性。其次，中小企业管理者共享的学习心态类型可以引发组织认知框架的变化。