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Changing Behaviour: Successful Environmental Programmes in the Workplace

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Listed:
  • William Young
  • Matthew Davis
  • Ilona M. McNeill
  • Bindu Malhotra
  • Sally Russell
  • Kerrie Unsworth
  • Chris W. Clegg

Abstract

There is an increasing focus on improving the pro‐environmental attitudes, behaviour and habits of individuals, whether at home, in education, travelling, shopping or in the workplace. This article focuses on the workplace by conducting a multi‐disciplinary literature review of research that has examined the influence of organization‐based behaviour change initiatives. The review includes only research evidence that measured actual environmental performance (e.g. energy use) rather than solely using self‐reported methods (e.g. questionnaires). The authors develop an ‘employee pro‐environmental behaviour’ (e‐PEB) framework, which contains individual, group, organizational and contextual factors that have predictive relevance across different behaviours and organizations. The review shows that the strongest predictors are environmental awareness, performance feedback, financial incentives, environmental infrastructure, management support and training. A key finding from this review is that attitude change is not necessarily a pre‐requisite for behaviour change in the workplace. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Suggested Citation

  • William Young & Matthew Davis & Ilona M. McNeill & Bindu Malhotra & Sally Russell & Kerrie Unsworth & Chris W. Clegg, 2015. "Changing Behaviour: Successful Environmental Programmes in the Workplace," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 689-703, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:24:y:2015:i:8:p:689-703
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.1836
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Matthew C. Davis & Kerrie L. Unsworth & Sally V. Russell & Jennifer J. Galvan, 2020. "Can green behaviors really be increased for all employees? Trade‐offs for “deep greens” in a goal‐oriented green human resource management intervention," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 335-346, February.
    2. Yan Wah Leung & Sonny Rosenthal, 2019. "Explicating Perceived Sustainability-Related Climate: A Situational Motivator of Pro-Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Sharma, Amalesh & Moses, Aditya Christopher & Borah, Sourav Bikash & Adhikary, Anirban, 2020. "Investigating the impact of workforce racial diversity on the organizational corporate social responsibility performance: An institutional logics perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 138-152.
    4. Kyungeun Sung & Tim Cooper & Sarah Kettley, 2019. "Developing Interventions for Scaling Up UK Upcycling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-31, July.
    5. Khalid Farooq & Mohd Yusoff Yusliza & Ratri Wahyuningtyas & Adnan ul Haque & Zikri Muhammad & Jumadil Saputra, 2021. "Exploring Challenges and Solutions in Performing Employee Ecological Behaviour for a Sustainable Workplace," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, August.
    6. Grilli, Gianluca & Curtis, John, 2021. "Encouraging pro-environmental behaviours: A review of methods and approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Zhe Zhang & Yun Zhang & Ming Jia, 2021. "Does a sense of calling facilitate sustainability? Research on the influence of calling on employee green behavior," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3145-3159, November.
    8. D’Oca, Simona & Hong, Tianzhen & Langevin, Jared, 2018. "The human dimensions of energy use in buildings: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 731-742.
    9. Sorin Popescu & Diana Rusu & Mihai Dragomir & Daniela Popescu & Șerban Nedelcu, 2019. "Competitive Development Tools in Identifying Efficient Educational Interventions for Improving Pro-Environmental and Recycling Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-25, December.
    10. N. Thevanes & S. Harikaran, 2020. "Work-Life Balance and Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Organizational Citizenship Behavior," Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 7(4), pages 280-287.
    11. Gary Goggins, 2018. "Developing a sustainable food strategy for large organizations: The importance of context in shaping procurement and consumption practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 838-848, November.
    12. Helena Bulińska-Stangrecka & Anna Bagieńska, 2021. "Culture-Based Green Workplace Practices as a Means of Conserving Energy and Other Natural Resources in the Manufacturing Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Jetnipit Kunchai, 2024. "The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure the Learning of Context University Skills and Workplace-recognized Skills Test among Students WIE in Rural College Thailand," Higher Education Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(1), pages 1-54, February.
    14. Sarah Birrell Ivory & R. Bradley MacKay, 2020. "Scaling sustainability from the organizational periphery to the strategic core: Towards a practice‐based framework of what practitioners “do”," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2058-2077, July.
    15. Anastasia Pavlova & Hanna Salminen & Malla Mattila, 2022. "Green Human Resource Management – An Employee Perspective," Eurasian Journal of Social Sciences, Eurasian Publications, vol. 10(2), pages 110-123.
    16. Singh, Sanjay Kumar & Chen, Jin & Del Giudice, Manlio & El-Kassar, Abdul-Nasser, 2019. "Environmental ethics, environmental performance, and competitive advantage: Role of environmental training," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 203-211.
    17. Gabriela Michalek & Ines Thronicker & Özgür Yildiz & Reimund Schwarze, 2019. "Habitually green: integrating the concept of habit into the design of pro-environmental interventions at the workplace [Gewohnheitsmäßig grün: Integration des Konzepts der Gewohnheit in die Gestalt," NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 113-124, June.
    18. Leonie Decrinis & Wolfgang Freibichler & Micha Kaiser & Cass R. Sunstein & Lucia A. Reisch, 2023. "Sustainable behaviour at work: How message framing encourages employees to choose electric vehicles," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5650-5668, December.
    19. Jennifer L. Robertson & A. Wren Montgomery & Timur Ozbilir, 2023. "Employees' response to corporate greenwashing," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4015-4027, November.
    20. Yusmani Mohd Yusoff & Mehran Nejati & Daisy Mui Hung Kee & Azlan Amran, 2020. "Linking Green Human Resource Management Practices to Environmental Performance in Hotel Industry," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(3), pages 663-680, June.
    21. Alt, Marius, 2021. "Committing to behave pro-environmentally: An assessment of time and regulatee-size effects on the demand for environmental regulation," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242419, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    22. Louise Sawyer & Simon Kemp & Patrick James & Michael Harper, 2021. "Assessment of a Nurse Led Energy Behavior Change Intervention in an NHS Community Hospital Ward," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.
    23. Murni Zarina Mohamed Razali & Rossilah Jamil, 2023. "Sustainability Learning in Organizations: Integrated Model of Learning Approaches and Contextual Factors," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    24. Chiara Pellegrini & Francesco Rizzi & Marco Frey, 2018. "The role of sustainable human resource practices in influencing employee behavior for corporate sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1221-1232, December.

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