Why Is Eco-Design Lacking Impact? Simplifying Eco-Design, Complicating Legitimacy

Since the 1990s, eco-design methodology has become a central issue in public policies. However, despite a proliferation of research, focused mainly on tools, corporate practices remain limited, often resulting in marginal eco-innovations. Companies have nevertheless seen the emergence of new professional roles that have been little studied by management sciences to date. Based on a two-year longitudinal case study focusing on an environmental expert developing an eco-design tool, this study explores the interrelationship between the deployment of eco-design, the appropriation of management tools, and the professionalization of environmental experts. By introducing the concept of professionalization dynamics, the results highlight its impact on the appropriation of management tools and, consequently, the role of designers in these interpretive processes. The study thus sheds light on the organizational conditions that enable—or hinder—the integration of sustainability issues into innovation processes.