Undermining the bonds of social sustainability

Purpose – This study aims to explore how hazing impacts newcomers’ professional self-image and their ability to build sustainable relationships in healthcare organisations. It highlights a gap in the social sustainability (SS) literature by focusing on how horizontal relational practices, rather than just leadership behaviour, affect newcomers’ well-being and integration. The study argues that hazing constitutes a form of misrecognition that undermines the ethical and relational conditions necessary for internal SS. Design/methodology/approach – The study involves 61 in-depth interviews with newly hired nurses and nursing students in Danish hospitals. Using a reflexive approach and Honneth’s recognition theory, the interviews were thematically coded to analyse how hazing affects newcomers’ self-image, expectations of the work community and engagement with colleagues and the organisation. Findings – The analysis shows that hazing damages newcomers’ confidence, self-esteem and sense of professional legitimacy. Misrecognition leads to withdrawal, mistrust and a loss of hope for future inclusion, thereby constraining newcomers’ participation in relational networks essential to socially sustainable workplaces. Hazing thus operates as an internal relational counterforce that undermines care, trust, justice and belonging. Originality/value – The study introduces hazing as a significant and previously under-theorised threat to internal SS. It demonstrates that socially sustainable workplaces depend on not only leadership practices but also horizontal relationship regulation and everyday recognition. The study offers a novel recognition-theoretical framework linking individual psychological harm with relational and organisational consequences.