Tensions and paradoxes in sustainable beauty industry

Abstract Purpose: In beauty industry sustainability issues are gaining momentum also in light of Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability is being increasingly and constantly recognized as source of competitive advantage in terms of brand image and profit. Consumers, in particular Millennials and Gen Z are very interested in having a quality product with sustainable and bio characteristics, and are very sensitive to sustainable packaging (Švecová et al., 2020; PwC 2020; Cosmetica Italia, 2021). Dealing with sustainability issues in beauty industry results in a complex and multi-actor ecosystem made up by different elements, behaviors, and interactions, so in this paper this industry has been considered, according to Service Dominant logic, as a service ecosystem in which actors interact at micro, meso and macro level and in which tensions could arise (Vargo and Lusch, 2017; Hahn et al., 2015; Smith and Lewis, 2011) Considering sustainability in the beauty industry requires to address multiple environmental, economic and social goals at different levels of the services ecosystem (Elkington, 1997). The aim of this paper is to recognize current tensions arising at the different levels of this service ecosystem when actors characterized by different worldviews interact and integrate resources and to address tensions and paradoxes between economic, environmental and social goals. Design, methodology, approach: In order to achieve the aims of the paper and coherently with the complexity of the issue, the study adopts a qualitative methodology: the study has been conducted in a real context through face-to-face interviews with multi-level actors of the beauty industry. It consists of 29 semi-structured interviews with key informants at different levels of the service ecosystem. Interviews were carried out between April 2021 and November 2021. Data from interviews have been triangulated with those deriving analysis of secondary data and with data deriving from participant observations (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2018) Findings: Sustainability is driving the evolution of Italian beauty service ecosystem and findings highlight that resource integration and actors’ engagement and interactions are linked to the presence of shared worldviews. Data also show that when misalignments in worldviews generate tensions between the different actors that could be overcome trough a holistic vision of sustainability and trough the implementation of new innovative practices. The proposition of shared practices and KPIs for the managers could enhance the creation of new worldviews and institutions. Discussion and conclusion: This paper contributes both at a theoretical and managerial level to a better understanding of the tensions and paradoxes linked to the sustainable transition of beauty industry. It identifies the main issues that researchers, managers and policy makers could address to support the sustainable evolution of beauty service ecosystem and to investigate existent tensions and how to manage them in a paradoxical way also in light of Sustainable Development Goals.