Abstract
Responsibility is an important concept in new product development, typically associated with the need to consider social and environmental impacts. Some authors have highlighted a lack of precision in the way responsibility in product design and development is conceptualised, since multiple framings of responsibility are often conflated. Indeed, responsibility is a psychological notion that can constructed in different ways. Yet there is a lack of empirical research on the discursive construction and management of responsibility. This study uses discursive psychology to identify how designers respond when they are directly asked about responsibility in semi-structured interviews. The findings show which ways of asking about responsibility are treated as action-focused, which are associated with a focus on barriers to being responsible, and which are met with a focus on culpability. Implications for both the allocation of responsibility in business settings and for research on responsibility are outlined.