The intertwinement of professional knowledge culture, leadership practices and sustainability in the restaurant industry

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to research on the growing expectation of hospitality businesses to implement sustainability strategies. By using the theoretical framework of professional knowledge cultures, as discussed by Nerland [Nerland, M. (2012). Professions as knowledge cultures. In Professional learning in the knowledge society (pp. 27–48). Brill/Sense], together with concepts of leadership and management, the study presents a novel approach. The aim is to explore the knowledge culture and the processes of learning and leadership formation in the restaurant industry to understand how these impact sustainable decision-making in restaurants. Through a narrative method, a typical industry career is illuminated, which mirrors the route to becoming a leader while adopting sustainability strategies. One podcast interview was used as research material to introduce a new data source derived from social media. The sampling considers the relevance of the narrators’ knowledge and experience of the chef's profession and is therefore representative of a naturally occurring data. The analysis, based on knowledge culture, leadership practices, and sustainability, shows that the size of the restaurant matters for financial and socially sustainable decision-making. This is explained by the production flow in large organizations, which depends on calculated and effective work methods. Environmental sustainability strategies appear as a personal concern and are thereafter transformed into the knowledge culture, identified as a normative leadership.

KEYWORDS:

• Leadership
• restaurants
• narrative
• knowledge culture
• sustainability

Introduction

The expectations of hospitality-related businesses, which includes the restaurant industry (RI), to commit to sustainability schemes have increased. This is motivated not least by economic growth in the tourism sector, where the steadily increasing number of consumers is creating an inescapable need for sustainable business strategies (UNWTO, 2017). Any ambition to frame the concept of sustainability appears to have sprung out of the Brundtland report (1987), where it was concluded that no human activity and its negative effects can be classified as a separate crisis. What the report emphasizes is that all crises – whether triggered by environmental, economic, or social factors – should be approached as an intertwinement of all three mentioned factors. This approach is according to Kramar (2014) and also the common way to understand how sustainability strategies must be applied in all forms of business. Currently, commitment to sustainability schemes in the wider tourism industry is centred on a mix of economic and environmental matters related to energy and water saving, recycling, sustainable food and pollution (cf. Green Restaurant Association, 2020; Jones et al., 2016). The tourism and hospitality literature concerning education is abundant (Hsu et al., 2017), but it has not previously focused on the topic of sustainability to reinforce professional knowledge (Giang & Waldeste, 2021). Giang and Waldesten – whose study shows the occurrence of individual company events focusing on “hacking” new sustainability ideas put forward the importance of innovative education for sustainable environmental development in the sector. Furthermore, the existing research on themes connected to economic sustainability, such as case studies of sustainable business models in service industries is still rare in the literature (Høgevold et al., 2015). Accordingly, in areas such as show businesses, can increase competitiveness and profitability through sustainable strategies, a lack of knowledge exists among hospitality companies, especially the smaller ones (UNWTO, 2017). The social element of sustainability in restaurant organizations needs more attention from researchers as well as from the industry itself, especially considering the workforce, the hospitality providers and working conditions (Baum et al., 2016; Gjerald et al., 2021; Higgins-Desbiolles et al., 2019; Jones et al., 2016). This corresponds with Baum et al. (2016), who emphasize that the tourism and hospitality/restaurant sector must commit to the goals set out in the UN’s (2015) Agenda for Sustainable Development “to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work” (p. 809).

Arguably, any improvements regarding the three pillars of sustainability are dependent on the implementation of sustainable knowledge and responsible decision-making in work organizations. This is especially relevant at the micro-level practices in restaurants (Alves Zanella, 2020). Consequently, there is a need for research on professional knowledge and how it may affect both individual and organizational learning, namely the knowledge culture, and how it influences and shapes leadership and management practices in responsible or irresponsible ways (Laasch & Gherardi, 2019). These concerns are central both in hospitality research and in the RI, and they lead to new ways to approach the “sustainability gap” through cross-disciplinary research on knowledge cultures that apply qualitative methods (Jones et al., 2016), which has not previously been done in hospitality research.

In this article, the concept of leadership and becoming a leader is understood as a combination of getting authority and getting increased responsibility in the workplace. From this perspective, the paper aims to explore how the knowledge culture and processes of learning and leadership formation are constituted in the restaurant industry to understand how this impacts sustainable decision-making behaviours in restaurants. To do so, our ambition is to illuminate a career path in the restaurant industry consisting of a narrative derived from an industry-specific podcast. This is a working life story that for many practitioners also includes a route to becoming a leader. Furthermore, the narrative is an illustration of a professional trajectory that may affect sustainability strategies in the restaurant industry.

The remainder of the article is organized as follows. The literature review starts with the theoretical concepts of knowledge cultures and leadership in the restaurant industry and ends with a theoretical framing of sustainability. Thereafter the methodology of the study is presented, followed by the results of the study ordered in accordance with the depicted categories of knowledge culture. The paper finishes with a discussion of the result and conclusions, with limitations and proposed further research.

Literature review

Professional knowledge cultures

Professions are constituted by the specific ways in which they engage and manage knowledge and form distinct cultures, as in the materiality that forms a professional practice, as well as traditions and methods for knowledge production and the profession's specific knowledge application (Nerland, 2012). Nerland draws on the work of Knorr-Cetina (2007), stating that: “Practitioners are shaped through and learn to see the world through the lenses of their knowledge culture” (Nerland, 2012, p. 28). In the expertise of a professional practitioner lies the implication to perform one's work in accordance with the profession's knowledge and values, to remain current with knowledge development, and to add to and be guided by the profession's shared knowledge base (Jensen et al., 2012).

Nerland describes (2012) the constituents of a knowledge culture in the ways knowledge and practitioners’ continuing learning are organized in different professions. Professional knowledge is formed by means of production; through science, experiences and reflexivity; through accumulation, linear and collectively and/or individually; through distribution, locally linked to tools and artefacts provided; and by sharing applications of general knowledge through work settings. These forms of knowledge shape each other by enactment along with the construction of learning in work-based situations and in the ways the professional practitioner approaches learning (Nerland, 2012).

Jensen et al. (2012) suggest that future research on knowledge cultures and learning in the professions should focus, for instance, on time and space in learning, the dealing with complexity and uncertainty and the handling of the unforeseen as well as reflexivity. Although they want to address these issues on the level of knowledge settings and processes rather than on individual practitioners and their activities, they also note that there is a “path-dependent” nature of professional learning (Jensen et al., 2012, p. 17).

Knorr-Cetina (2007) discusses scientific knowledge cultures in the context of a knowledge society, and we think that some of the specificities of knowledge cultures she highlights, such as “cultural specificities arise when domains of social life become separated from one another” (p. 364), may also have implications for the way we can look at knowledge culture in the restaurant industry.

Knowledge and competence in the RI

It is important to identify how workplace learning affects the knowledge culture in specific professional communities and how it influences the spreading of local knowledge practices (Jensen et al., 2012). The RI has traditional norms of diligence and stamina (Wellton et al., 2018), and learning on the job is a focus since it is the most common way for the workforce to become proficient in their respective work areas (James, 2006; Jönsson, 2012). Restaurant work (and even service work overall) comprises a complex mixture of practical, experience-based and emotional work with little expert knowledge except for culinary and sommelier craftsmanship (Fine, 2009; Ganter, 2004; Lane, 2014). This knowledge description also indicates how sustainable approaches and norms are transmitted. The master–apprentice relationship (Stierand et al., 2008) is traditionally the norm of knowledge transfer in restaurants (Cameron, 2001; Lindberg, 1999; Lundberg, 2010). This approach to learning is also labelled an industry-specific expression of a knowledge-based “tyranny of relevance” (Airey & Tribe, 2000, p. 290). The expression describes how students who undertake external vocational programmes linked to the RI often have trouble gaining legitimacy in comparison with trainees who undergo a workplace training scheme. Furthermore, external vocational programmes usually submit to conditions of restaurant work and therefore forms students exactly as the RI wishes to see them (Lashley, 2004). One implication of this so-called tyranny of relevance is arguably the industry's inward-looking and self-referencing approach to knowledge development and learning, rather than being oriented towards the outside, that is, to higher education (Hegarty, 2011).

Leadership and management in the RI

There appear to be two starting points in the literature for those who want to examine the framing of leadership in the RI. On the one hand, Schön (2007) frames a development that, during the first half of the twentieth century, changed the production conditions for most restaurant companies. Through the introduction of kitchen machines and refrigeration technology, it became possible for restaurant organizations to adopt a production technology that was, in many ways, reminiscent of factory production. In effect, it became possible to standardize menu offerings, and production began to resemble a conveyor-belt model. This shift also meant that many larger restaurant organizations were now able to streamline and calculate production flows (Schön, 2007), which can be linked to Fredrick Taylor's ideas about the importance of increased managerial control through the implementation of scientific management (see Braverman, 1974). The managerial and leadership responsibilities are often merged into one role in small and medium-sized restaurants (Balazs, 2002). Management practices are on a general note, commonly characterized by a focus on managing time, space, and materiality, with a concomitant lack of planning, strategizing and control (Wellton et al., 2017). In addition, the traditional use of authoritarian leadership practices in the restaurant industry (Ottenbacher & Harrington, 2007) creates hierarchical workplace relations (Lane, 2014). Common career paths within the hierarchical structure are, as stated by Heldt-Cassel et al. (2018, pp. 45–46), strongly normative in the sense that it is imperative to work one's way up from the bottom, from dishwashing to management, and that education is valuable only if it is vocation- or industry-specific.

On the other hand, especially during the latter half of the twentieth century and onwards, leadership in the restaurant industry has increasingly become framed by the need to implement human resource management (HRM) strategies. A majority of restaurant companies are now a significant part of a staff-intensive service industry where the competition for restaurant customers is fierce, so it is also common among restaurant owners to emphasize the importance of staff and their well-being (Solnet et al., 2015). Thus, it is now more important to encourage leaders to build a partnership with the employees, where, for example, employment security is offered in exchange for loyalty to the company brand and a greater sensitivity to guests’ needs (Hollinshead et al., 2003). This development can in turn be linked to the idea of sustainable HRM, which is an approach that further emphasizes that leadership methods have both human and financial outcomes (Mazur, 2017). Such outcomes include consideration of staff well-being, planning of future staffing needs, designing the work environment and the company's climate impact (Kramar, 2014). How restaurant leaders relate to sustainable and responsible leadership practices can directly influence the engagement of both employees and customers in sustainable behaviours, especially when incorporated with business strategies and practices, according to Jang et al. (2017). This indicates that hospitality/restaurant managers must increase and develop organizational knowledge about environmentally sustainable behaviours by encouraging commitment among enthusiastic and knowledgeable co-workers (Martínez-Martínez et al., 2019).

Framing sustainability in the RI

A more dystopian view of the future is that the hospitality industry as a whole is too embedded in difficulties to respond to the demands of sustainable operations. Since the service offered is largely dependent on excessive consumption by consumers who for various reasons are away from home, there are significant degrees of unsustainability built into the business models (Cavagnaro, 2018; Wood, 2015). Instead, as Jones et al. (2016) point out, definitions of sustainability in the hospitality/restaurant industry are often more likely to be interpreted as business efficiency tools rather than as a moral obligation.

Research related to social sustainability issues in the RI is focused mainly on the occurrence of low status, minimal requirements for prior knowledge, low wages, high staff turnover, precarious employment conditions and the exploitation of employees as typical and rooted characteristics of restaurant work (Baum, 2008; Bloisi & Hoel, 2008; Burrow et al., 2015). One explanation for this scientific view is, according to Powell and Wood (1999; see also Lainpelto & Lainpelto, 2012), that negative depictions of restaurant work have dominated for a long time and, thus, have cemented gloomy views that recur in many scientific conclusions made about the RI. In line with these conclusions, a consequence is an acceptance of the image of the RI as unique, specialized and not particularly suitable for development compared with other business areas.

However, according to Steg et al. (2014), research on biospheric values has shown their effects on individual beliefs, norms, and behaviours, yet they suggest that it is also important to explore how positive attitudes towards sustainability nonetheless develop and can be strengthened. A sustainable behaviour is often adopted for normative reasons, such as to be perceived as environmentally friendly by peers (Steg et al., 2014). Therefore, owners and senior managers in the RI need to transfer their convictions about being sustainable to their employees and to recruit and retain creative and talented employees, according to Raab et al. (2018) and Jones et al. (2016).

Methodology

The research material in this article is based on one episode of a podcast titled Chefs’ Chat. A personal working-life story of a head chef is examined as an example of a trajectory that is common for the restaurant industry (Jönsson, 2012). The story displays knowledge and a learning path that, for many practitioners, often includes a route to a leadership role in the industry (Lane, 2014; Wellton et al., 2019; see also Burrow et al., 2015; Rose, 2001), which also reveals how sustainability becomes part of a person's everyday work life.

In this study, a narrative approach opens new ways of doing research that is illuminating, novel and accessible to readers (Bold, 2011). A choice of a podcast interview as research material was sprung from the same idea of novelty research, such as introducing a new data source derived from social media. Furthermore, since the method requires rigorous and reflective data collection and a critical analysis, the accessibility of the original interview online (Chefś chat, 2019) reassures the transparency of the material to the readers.

This qualitative method was helpful as the objective was to interpret the sayings of a practitioner in a context where social relations and the surrounding materiality take place in the foreground. This perspective is inspired by Blumer’s (1969) reasoning on how social research should concentrate on process and meaning construction in the active negotiations and interpretations of how people understand and interact with the world. Therefore, the podcast episodes were viewed as narratives rather than interviews. A narrative is, according to Johnstone (2015), a talk that represents events in the past that include a “story” with a point (p. 639) and is how we make sense of ourselves as individuals and as members of groups. While analysing narratives, the attention needs to be pointed towards not only ways to establish bonds to a community and associated knowledge but also to the power effects of storytelling when creating the self in the way one talks and acts (Athens, 2010; Jäger, 2015; Johnstone, 2015).

In the chosen podcast series, the editor has conversations about different career topics with renowned persons in the restaurant industry, primarily chefs. In the specific episode monitored for this study, a Swedish head chef, aged 34, who leads several restaurants in the capacity of culinary director, conveys her working-life story. This sampling was appropriate when considering the relevance of the narrator's knowledge and experience of the chefs’ profession and the career trajectory. The material is therefore considered as a representation of naturally occurring data (Silverman, 2011) rather than material created by the respondent at the request of the researchers. Also, in this study, the emphasis was on the quality of the material collected rather than the quantity (Bowen, 2008). Furthermore, the extensive report of the results mirrors the transparency of this study. The duration of the podcast episode is 77 minutes, and the verbatim transcript comprises 25 pages.

The podcast episode was made public in April 2019 and is, therefore, accessible for research (ORU Law Department, 2019). Moreover, the head chef, whom we will call Anna, has consented to the use of her narrative and statements in the podcast episode as part of this research context. Anna has a vocational diploma in restaurant and hotel education from secondary school and began her career as a cook 15 years ago. Two or three years later, she rose to a head chef position. She has had a mentor for a couple of years (a hotel entrepreneur) who has supported her and given her a position as culinary director in a newly built restaurant that quickly became popular. Recently, she received an environmental certification from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and has also become an ambassador for the same organization.

Analysis

The qualitative analysis in this study was inspired by directed content analysis, a deductive theory-based process featuring predetermined categories (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). In this study, Nerland’s (2012) concepts of learning and professional knowledge cultures form the theoretical framework for the analysis, with the three following categories: production through science, experience and reflexivity; accumulation, linear and collectively and/or individually; and distribution, locally linked to tools and artefacts provided and by sharing the application of general knowledge through work settings.

After extensive reading of the transcript and discussions between the researchers, the analysis began with an identification of statements in the narrative related to each knowledge category (see Table 1). For example, the statement: “I went from secondary school to become a head chef” was identified as part of the knowledge production category. The statement “ … we had no routines and such when we opened this place. We needed to create them all together” was identified as part of the accumulation of knowledge. And the statement “ … when there are 20 cooks … you need something else. Another type of communication … how you communicate and write e-mails … ” was identified as part of the distribution of knowledge and condensed into statement themes.

Table 1. Content analysis of the narrative, ordered thematically in accordance with the knowledge culture in the restaurant industry, connected to leadership development and sustainability challenges.

Categories of knowledge (K) culture (Nerland, 2012)
Themes of statements	Themes in the narrative concerning the Knowledge culture in the RI	Themes in the narrative concerning the Dimensions of becoming a leader in the RI	Themes in the narrative concerning the Sustainability (S) challenges, in the RI: environmental, social and financial
Knowledge Production, KP through science, experience and reflexivity.	Basic, scientific knowledge, through secondary school Multitude of experiencing (learning by doing). Reflexivity in the implementation of new knowledge. Minimum of further education.	Experiencing and reflection mostly individually and having a personal “drive”. Trial and error	Environmental S, mostly an individual stance but also linked to marketing and finance
Knowledge accumulation, KA Linear and collectively or/and individually	Basic linear (secondary school) Partly linear and individually Linear (mentoring)and collectively (reflecting together)	Limited mentoring and at best learning together with coworkers and staff (especially problem solving)	Individually increased understanding of social S. Collectively experienced through communication
Knowledge distribution, KB Locally linked to artefacts provided, and by sharing application of general knowledge through work settings.	Mimetic learning through everyday work practices by handling of artefacts, tools and computer applications.	Master apprenticeship	Financial S pressure, but budgeting and planning and eventually enhances leadership and management practices
	Delegating responsibility to implement distribution of knowledge	Role model

Thereafter, statements in the narrative that represented leadership practices were treated in the same way according to the categories above: production, accumulation and distribution of knowledge. For example, “I have become much better in understanding people's different assets and how they are … and also how you get the most out of people” was identified as leadership practices of knowledge production. Finally, statements on environmental, financial and social sustainability challenges depicted in the narrative were linked to the themes in the previous knowledge categories. In this way, the study's results show an intertwinement between knowledge culture, leadership practices and sustainability.

Results

The content of the informant Anna's working-life story is presented in alignment with Nerland (2012) three categories of a knowledge culture.

Knowledge production

Anna's working-life story illustrates content that generates pictures of knowledge production in the restaurant industry. Her entire career has consisted of learning on the job – often the hard way – and her story is characterized by experiences of trial and error and a lack of further formal training arranged by the employer.

I think that in this [restaurant] industry, it is always like you get thrown into tasks, which has happened to me in all my professional roles. I went from secondary school to become a head chef.

Simultaneously, the same process has been an important journey for professional learning and personality development

This has been one of the periods where I have developed my personality the most … to understand the importance of communication. I have become much better in understanding people's different assets and how they are … and also how you get the most out of people.

Anna also highlights the importance of her own personal motivation and her strong work ethic, which is concretized by constant efforts to improve her professional skills. Thus, Anna equates her early work experiences with going to school. While learning on the job, she was simultaneously implementing her learning outcomes in a business reality that is difficult to predict.

In the small restaurants where I worked before, it was just … you opened the door and hoped that today there will be many guests, and let's test this or that [dish] … it was more of taking a chance.

However, Anna's working-life story also indicates that learning outcomes differ depending on the size of the restaurant organization. In smaller organizations, a focus on the details regarding the presentation of dishes is more significant. The same details become less important in larger restaurant organizations. In the latter, the “vibe” becomes a more important feature as the average guest does not distinguish minor details. Overall, Anna has developed an understanding of how structure and planning are indispensable in larger restaurant organizations. This understanding stems from experiences of recurring labour turnover, caused by a common lack of organizational structure and long-term planning

If I would start all over again, I would have done it in another way because now I understand that people generally need to feel secure and be able to do their job in better ways. And I wasn't able to do that at the time.

Together with the outlined learning process, the importance of having a mentor becomes evident in Annás story. Her mentor is the owner of the large hotel chain where Anna is currently employed. In connection with the opening of a new hotel, her mentor encouraged her to accept the job as culinary director, even if she was hesitant at the beginning. However, her mentor also promised her support in the start-up phase. For example, she was given a leave before opening day

[…] we solved the worst chaos in April and May as most of the routines were in place, and I asked if there was space for me to go away for a while … also so I could endure through the coming summer. And then I was allowed a leave and came back with new energy and new ideas and implemented yoga on the roof of the restaurant.

Anna emphasizes several times that she has experienced significant personal development in her role as culinary director. Her story is again characterized by experiences of trial and error as well as a lack of further formal training arranged by the employer. However, there are also new elements. During the past year, Anna has felt an increasing personal responsibility issues, primarily because of the extensive amount of fish the restaurant orders. This has motivated her to learn more about sustainable fishing, which, in turn, has led to an “ambassadorship” for the organization MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) in order to make the restaurant MSC-certified. She had to develop new insights into ecological choices concerning foodstuff to assure environmental sustainability and overall quality. In other words, Anna's personal concern for sustainability extends to work matters, raising critical questions concerning the quantity of food and the amount of animal protein in a single dish. Her working-life story begins to reveal a concern for how her professional choices affect the environment as well as her own well-being

The shellfish menu at [name of well-known fine-dining restaurant] is made up of a lot of protein, much more than a regular dinner you eat at home. Also, as it is now time to start taking more responsibility for the planet, it is not healthy to eat those amounts of protein, so no wonder the body reacts […] From just looking at trends in gastronomy and taste and like plating and all this to … behind this … what happens to the body?

Knowledge accumulation

Anna speaks personally of how, in her role as culinary director, she has determined the entire concept of the restaurant, spanning from the culinary ideas to the interior decorations, and how she is responsible for setting the “vibe” and organizing the workplace. She is also supposed to be the “brand” of the whole restaurant and its food concept, which puts pressure on her to be a front person.

Yes, that's what I perceive, that many guests think that I have fished the fish, that I have cut and cooked the fish and that I do everything … it's me who fronts everything like that.

Despite Anna being perceived as the personification of the restaurant's concept, she emphasizes how important it has been to accumulate knowledge together with her co-workers

[…] we had no routines and such when we opened this place. We needed to create them all together because I am not at all stations every day all the time and have to get ideas from many people so that we can do it as well as possible.

Anna's story began from a point where practical professional competence is developed, but her current position indicates a shift towards learning leadership or, primarily, management strategies. In other words, her early learning process also appears to have been clearly individualized, but later, in her role as culinary director, she has learned collectively with her entire staff. The shift towards collective learning occurs due to the demands of clearly pronounced turnover requirements and her responsibility for the start-up of a large-scale restaurant with high culinary claims. Thus, the shift can be seen as motivated by demands for knowledge that Anna has not encountered before.

[…] figures may not be my strongest side or have not been … in any case I have learned to get extremely much better at it. And it is extremely much money … It requires a fairly different type of logistics and planning. When we opened here, it was very difficult to know … how advanced the preparation can be.

Distribution of knowledge

For an extensive period of her career, Anna felt the focus on her own professional creativity, but her current position as culinary director is seemingly characterized by a more collaborative nature. It means that new ideas for courses are developed in collaboration with her sous chefs, who are then expected to implement these ideas into their preparation and cooking. In addition, planning and budgeting for menu items is, for the most part, left to head chefs, who are also responsible for planning and budgeting for the staff. Anna also underlines how she and her subordinates have been working together to develop a sustainable work environment for all employees. Such sustainability strategies have required a reliable system for preparation settings and improved workplace organization. In a concrete sense, they plan for months in advance for changes in the menu, such as seasonal changes, when asparagus needs to be considered in November for serving in May. All the chefs have become aware of the complications that might arise due to a lack of planning if the slightest unforeseen incident occurs. Furthermore, since the workforce consists of a multitude of different nationalities, the detailed planning requires written instructions in a specific data system and in English. The same system is also necessary to simplify traceability concerning the sustainable origin and handling of the food.

Anna's career path is constantly fraught with challenges. To cope with these challenges, Anna has, above all, competed with herself to succeed and has accepted the role of being “alone at the top”. During the early years of her career, harsh and straightforward communications from former bosses spurred her to do better, but as culinary director, it has become clear that people respond to criticism in different ways:

[…] I can be more straightforward … when I communicate with one person [the head chef]. But when there are 20 cooks … you need something else. Another tone and another type of communication … . I mean I have never meant to harm anyone … but I really must think about this in my position now, how you communicate and write e-mails because people are different.

Earlier in her career, Anna's competence specialty was mostly oriented towards handicraft cutting techniques, which in her new organization became a significant setback in terms of workload. In larger restaurant organizations, it is important, according to Anna, to understand how much strain it is possible to put on each workstation, especially during meal preparations. A focus on handicraft cutting techniques quickly becomes time-consuming and significantly increases workloads and complicates workflows in the kitchens. Although it is still crucial for Anna to distinguish the minimum quality of cooking, she can now move away from being as focused on details as she once learned to be. She says that it has been very educating for her to ignore her own subjective opinion on such issues and instead learn to think constructively.

Anna and her deputy managers worked together to streamline the relationships between work methods, time use and the physical work environment. The purpose of the teamwork effort is an obvious example of how the close materiality (tools, artefacts, and the handling of them) in the restaurant industry is linked to knowledge distribution. However, Anna also claims, first and foremost, to prioritize the needs of the guests, which includes expectations that all staff must run a little faster and work a little harder when the structure “behind” (in the kitchen) for some reason does not function properly. At the same time, she says that she has come to realize how important it is to take responsibility for making the employees feel secure and knowledgeable when handling stressful situations, that is, to express a social sustainability attentiveness. Part of this attentiveness is to maintain her overview of the whole business and, at the same time, avoid constantly criticizing the staff's efforts. One of the most troublesome parts of Anna's job has been the emotional investments she has made. Every time a member of staff with whom Anna has built a relationship leaves the organization, it feels like a breakup. The “breakup-feeling” is an example of how the staff turnover in the restaurant industry creates emotional stress among co-workers. It indicates a loss of friendship as well as potentially negative consequences for the company's overall competence through, for example, inconsistent or declining productivity.

When elaborating about her future, Anna returns to her personal interest in sustainability matters, now in the form of a quest:

But … maybe if I am going to dream or see myself within 5–10 years, I will probably work with a little bigger issue that can reach more people who may not have the opportunity to come and eat at a restaurant like [name of Anna's workplace], not having that economy or not the interest. And I made a book in connection to this … I also have ideas for making another book, but it will look different, maybe more health-oriented on food like … diets, something that has made me able to handle and perform the way I do at this level, by having replaced certain foods that have made me feel better.

To an even greater degree, her goal is to influence general perceptions about healthy eating, both among restaurant visitors and those who eat out less often. Hence, she wants to move on to tackle larger questions, this from a platform that has a capacity to reach outside the restaurant industry.

Discussion

Below, the categories of knowledge are linked to the discussion with the abbreviations in brackets from Table 1.

The knowledge culture in the RI

Based on Anna's narrative, it is possible to state that knowledge production in the restaurant industry revolves primarily around getting experience and reflecting about daily work practices and production flows. It is a knowledge production that is isolated from obvious outside influences, as discussed by Knorr-Cetina (2007). This may be explained by the industry having a culture of separating itself from higher education, as if knowledge from domains outside restaurant work systems is of lesser relevance (Airey & Tribe, 2000). This inward-looking effect of the knowledge culture is part of the “master–apprenticeship system”, exemplified in this study by the narrator's self-image of being the omniscient “brand” of the restaurant she is appointed to run, although nothing is achieved without the tight cooperation involving all co-workers, including the master (Fine, 2009; Ganter, 2004; Lane, 2014).

Accordingly, in alignment with Nerland (2012) and Jensen et al. (2012), we suggest that the industry's culture of knowledge underpins a clear individualism (master–apprenticeship). Moreover, the acquisition of knowledge (KP) takes place based on the individual's own accumulation of knowledge (KA) in a collective team-based system.

The same experiential knowledge, together with reflexivity, is the key to leading positions, since one master can oversee the whole production system (Wellton et al., 2019). The larger the restaurant company becomes, the more urgent the needs that arise for bureaucratization (more management levels) and systematization (more planning). We mean that the production (KP) and accumulation (KA) of knowledge in the industry is transferred from an individual ability to a collective collaboration. This must be understood in light of external financial pressure, as in budgeting and financial analysis. The business conditions shift from being controlled by “gut feelings” (i.e. ad hoc decisions) to becoming defined by budget frameworks and sustainable performance targets in the larger restaurant (Xu & Gursoy, 2015). Here, Jensen et al.’s (2012) argument about how practitioners deal with uncertainty and unforeseen events and are finally forced by external conditions to adapt the knowledge production (KP) and accumulation (KA) in linear ways, as a coherent and evolutionary process. In other words, the small restaurant organization is adapted to everyday uncertainties, but the larger restaurant organization counteracts similar uncertainties by controlling measures of handling business demands.

We suggest that the distribution of knowledge, including the reproduction of norms and opinions on what proper knowledge is, influences a phenomenon we identify as an inward-looking knowledge production process. Here, inward-looking should be understood as industry-specific self-sufficiency (Lainpelto & Lainpelto, 2012; Powell & Wood, 1999). However, knowledge distribution also tends to become the opposite as the situation changes. It shifts to outward-looking when financial pressure increases together with the increasing number of co-workers. Hence, with growing organizations, learning, knowledge production and accumulation, and the responsibility for distribution of knowledge seem to disperse and become a matter for all levels in the organization. In the larger restaurants, the need for control increases, and simultaneously an understanding of how knowledge is distributed among co-workers increases. This is likely motivated by the larger organization's need to balance production flows and current and future cost efficiencies with quality aspects.

Dimensions of becoming a leader in the RI

The leadership trajectory described in this study shows that the individual's ability to transform experiences into knowledge (KP) of leadership is supported by a personal drive to relate to the requirements of the leadership role. An important aspect of the path to becoming a leader is the narrative about the abilities to dare to try and to constantly learn from mistakes(KA). Here, the prominent focus on how to lead subordinates in a small restaurant is on the production of the core product (the food on the plate) together with craft knowledge (Lane, 2014; Ottenbacher & Harrington, 2007; Wellton et al., 2018).

While moving toward a more complex organization, it is worth noting that limited mentoring – and that, at best, learning to become a leader (KP) – occurs together with co-workers and staff (especially concerning problem-solving). Anna's mentor seems to act like a life coach rather than an educator, and there were no peers in the organization to learn from or a network with more experienced persons to turn to. It may be possible to say that Anna experienced that leadership knowledge is not static but rather adaptable to new circumstances. Therefore, to develop new knowledge, she had to turn to her subordinates and participatory knowledge creation of management and leadership (KD), similar to a “partnership with the employees” as suggested by Hollinshead et al. (2003), also similar to sustainable HRM (Mazur, 2017).

Sustainability challenges in the RI

The concern and knowledge about environmental sustainability can be identified as an individual stance initiated through experiential knowledge (KP). Unlike Jones et al.'s (2016) supposition that financial concerns take precedence over moral obligations, the narrative describes a personal commitment to sustainability that develops into a moral obligation to the guests. In the narrative, the normative peer pressure to act in an environmentally friendly manner, as suggested by Steg et al. (2014), comes rather from lifestyle changes and customer/guest pressure rather than from networks of peers in the industry. Thus, knowledge about the need for environmental sustainability is activated when the theme is linked to questions about moral obligations and normativity, which hopefully, from the narrator's point of view, influences co-workers and guests to behave in more environmentally friendly ways (Jang et al., 2017; Martínez-Martínez et al., 2019). The environmental sustainability theme becomes an outward-looking learning process since the narratoŕs sustainability knowledge has increased through her engagement in and learning about the MSC organization (Alves Zanella, 2020).

Furthermore, as a leader, Anna experiences an individually increased understanding of social sustainability (KP). These insights come from everyday work in matters of communication and time pressure, when insights about responsible leadership practices emerged successively (KA), that is, to counteract heavy workloads, stress, poor communication, and staff turnover(cf. Baum et al., 2016) and the need for decent working conditions in the hospitality industry. Subsequently, social sustainability issues seem to be inevitable and must be handled as planning for the company's future becomes necessary. This “enforced” sustainable HRM certainly interconnects with control mechanisms and the demand for long-term planning. Moreover, it creates a cultural clash between the small company's “master–apprentice system” and the larger company's need for teamwork, inclusion, and a horizontal leadership, as put forward by Solnet et al. (2015). In this narrative, financial sustainability comes from pressure and financial performance expectations and seems to provide a nuanced leadership in the form of listening and delegating responsibility. Anna's focus on details shifts to a focus on holistic leadership, which may ultimately make a sustainable and responsible decision-making a necessary part of the larger company's prosperity. Financial sustainability is related to environmental sustainability, and to prevent obstruction in the production flow, long-term social sustainability is inevitable.

Conclusion

We suggest that the knowledge culture in the restaurant industry remains inward-looking and thereby also resistant to outside knowledge influences, such as further and advanced education. This is especially true concerning smaller restaurant organizations. However, we argue that the size of the restaurant company becomes crucial for financial and socially sustainable decision-making in the industry since the production flow in a large organization is totally dependent on calculated and well-functioning work methods (reminiscent of scientific management; cf. Braverman, 1974; Schön, 2007). Making these work methods effective in the long run also requires strategies for socially sustainable management (cf. sustainable HRM), not least as a function for retaining knowledgeable, long-term employees. Thus, responsible sustainable decision-making is arguably situation-based. Everything is governed by the importance of the production flow, which increases the focus on the interplay between financial and social sustainability.

The knowledge culture in the industry becomes relevant in relation to environmental sustainability. This is reflected in the study by the individual agency of “becoming a professional” and a leader, which is a transformation through experiential training rather than through formal knowledge accumulation (inward-looking). In the larger company, the master serves as a guide in matters of environmentally sustainable planning, product quality, and inspiration from the outside world. If master–apprentice systems prevail, environmental sustainability seemingly starts as a separate and personal value and is transformed into normative knowledge in the workplace. Therefore, environmental sustainability strategies – in contrast to sustainable financial and social strategies – seemingly continue to depend on the individual leader at the top.

It is critical to underscore that, although illustrative, this study is based on one narrative from the restaurant industry. Thus, the conclusions made may predominantly serve as an exploratory foundation to suggest further research on how to make sustainability a part of the industry's knowledge culture. This can be accomplished by accumulating and distributing knowledge about social sustainable leadership in the restaurant industry, especially among its young and inexperienced leaders.

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.