Constructing accounts of decision-making in sustainable design: A discursive psychology analysis

Many methods have been developed to help designers make better and more sustainable design decisions. Yet there is limited research on designers' perspectives on design decision-making. In this study, discursive psychology is used to analyse designers' accounts of decision-making. The designers show difficulty in trying to describe decision-making as an identifiable action. Different strategies are used to articulate how decision-making fits into the design process. Accounts of how decisions are made involve constructions of rational decision-making which are then undermined through ‘confessions’ of intuition. Decisions about sustainability are portrayed as made by other stakeholders, rather than by designers. The findings show that decision-making is a flexible construct that can be used to account for various actions.