Avoiding Corporate Greenwashing? Sustainability Silence Narratives in the Agri‐Food Industry

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to shed more light on the reasons underlying companies' under‐communication or lack of communication to stakeholders about sustainability achievements in the agri‐food sector. A qualitative study based on 34 semi‐structured interviews with respondents from this sector shows the predominance of a rationale of sustainability silence and a high level of stakeholders' mistrust concerning the information publicly available in this area. The results of the study also show that sustainability silence is closely linked to the ambiguities inherent in communication on complex issues and the resulting risks that this communication will be perceived as greenwashing. The article contributes to the emerging literature on the rationale of organizational sustainability silence and proposes an integrative model to better understand its implications. Drawing on neo‐institutional theory and the theory of ambiguity, it also contributes to the literature on the congruence of sustainability communication and on the greenwashing practices of agri‐food organizations by questioning the intentional character of companies' lack of transparency concerning their actions and performance in this area. Managerial implications and avenues for future research are also discussed.