IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i22p12476-d677205.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Explains Change-Supporting Behavior within Local Agenda 21 Civil Society Groups to Promote Sustainable Development?

Author

Listed:
  • Christoph Zacher

    (Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany)

  • Marieke Born

    (Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany)

  • Stefan Wurster

    (TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany)

  • Alexandra Michel

    (Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
    Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 44149 Dortmund, Germany)

Abstract

Civil society groups and their members are important agents within the multi-stakeholder change process towards more ecological, social, global, and economic sustainability. To better understand civil society group members’ drivers within this complex societal change process, the present study examines the impact of perceived participation, leader–member exchange (LMX), procedural justice, and procedural justice climate on change-supporting behavior. Referring to social exchange theory, data from 125 members of 34 civil society groups that engage in the Agenda 21 process in Germany were gathered by paper/pencil and online questionnaires. Multi-level analyses were conducted to examine interactions between group-level and individual-level phenomena. We found that participation and LMX positively affected group members’ procedural justice perceptions and that procedural justice positively affected group members’ change-supporting behavior. Procedural justice further mediated the relationship between participation, LMX, and change-supporting behavior. The study’s results suggest that fair social exchange processes with civil society group members should be more encouraged by other societal stakeholders (i.e., government, civil society group leaders) wishing to maximize civil society group members’ change-supporting behavior. This study demonstrates ways to promote change initiatives in civil society. Fair social exchange processes help to overcome participation hurdles in the complex field of sustainable local development.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Zacher & Marieke Born & Stefan Wurster & Alexandra Michel, 2021. "What Explains Change-Supporting Behavior within Local Agenda 21 Civil Society Groups to Promote Sustainable Development?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-22, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12476-:d:677205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12476/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12476/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schminke, Marshall & Cropanzano, Russell & Rupp, Deborah E., 2002. "Organization structure and fairness perceptions: The moderating effects of organizational level," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 881-905, September.
    2. Kern, Kristine, 2019. "Cities as leaders in EU multilevel climate governance: embedded upscaling of local experiments in Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 125-145.
    3. Price, Kenneth H. & Lavelle, James J. & Henley, Amy B. & Cocchiara, Faye K. & Buchanan, F. Robert, 2006. "Judging the fairness of voice-based participation across multiple and interrelated stages of decision making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 212-226, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miquel Salvador & David Sancho, 2021. "The Role of Local Government in the Drive for Sustainable Development Public Policies. An Analytical Framework Based on Institutional Capacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Kristine Kern & Janne Irmisch & Colette Odermatt & Wolfgang Haupt & Ingrid Kissling-Näf, 2021. "Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development, and Climate Policy: Comparing the UNESCO World Heritage Cities of Potsdam and Bern," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Laura Lakanen & Heli Kumpulainen & Olli Helppi & Kaisa Grönman & Risto Soukka, 2022. "Carbon Handprint Approach for Cities and Regions: A Framework to Reveal and Assess the Potential of Cities in Climate Change Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Ghulam Mustafa & Richard Glavee-Geo & Kjell Gronhaug & Hanan Saber Almazrouei, 2019. "Structural Impacts on Formation of Self-Efficacy and Its Performance Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Kılkış, Şiir & Ulpiani, Giulia & Vetters, Nadja, 2024. "Visions for climate neutrality and opportunities for co-learning in European cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    7. Maureen L. Ambrose & Darryl B. Rice & David M. Mayer, 2021. "Justice Climate and Workgroup Outcomes: The Role of Coworker Fair Behavior and Workgroup Structure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 79-99, August.
    8. Rupp, Deborah E. & Shao, Ruodan & Jones, Kisha S. & Liao, Hui, 2014. "The utility of a multifoci approach to the study of organizational justice: A meta-analytic investigation into the consideration of normative rules, moral accountability, bandwidth-fidelity, and socia," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 159-185.
    9. Ekaterina Domorenok & Giuseppe Acconcia & Lena Bendlin & Xira Ruiz Campillo, 2020. "Experiments in EU Climate Governance: The Unfulfilled Potential of the Covenant of Mayors," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 122-142, Autumn.
    10. Nkweauseh Reginald Longfor & Jiarong Hu & You Li & Xuepeng Qian & Weisheng Zhou, 2023. "Scientometric Trends and Knowledge Gaps of Zero-Emission Campuses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-24, November.
    11. Zeidan Susan & Itani Noura, 2020. "Cultivating Employee Engagement in Organizations: Development of a Conceptual Framework," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 28(1), pages 99-118, March.
    12. Mohammed Khalifa Abdelsalam & Ibrahim Mohammed Massoud Egdair & Halima Begum & Diara Md. Jadi & Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa & Omar Saad Saleh Abrika & A. S. A. Ferdous Alam, 2021. "The Key Organizational Factors in Healthcare Waste Management Practices of Libyan Public Hospitals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-19, November.
    13. Casiano Flores, Cesar & Tan, Evrim & Crompvoets, Joep, 2021. "Governance assessment of UAV implementation in Kenyan land administration system," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    14. Melanie Nagel & Melanie Schäfer, 2023. "Powerful stories of local climate action: Comparing the evolution of narratives using the “narrative rate” index," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(6), pages 1093-1119, November.
    15. Hansel, Julia, 2025. "Governing mobility hubs in the sustainable urban mobility transition: Dynamics of stability and change," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 323-334.
    16. Marshall Schminke & Anke Arnaud & Regina Taylor, 2015. "Ethics, Values, and Organizational Justice: Individuals, Organizations, and Beyond," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 727-736, September.
    17. Albana Kona & Paolo Bertoldi & Şiir Kılkış, 2019. "Covenant of Mayors: Local Energy Generation, Methodology, Policies and Good Practice Examples," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-29, March.
    18. Kristine Kern & Sam Grönholm & Wolfgang Haupt & Luca Hopman, 2023. "Matching forerunner cities: Climate policy in Turku, Groningen, Rostock, and Potsdam," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(6), pages 1004-1025, November.
    19. Jürgen Mühlbacher & Tom Siebenaler, 2018. "Ready for Changes? The Influence of General Self-Efficacy and Resistance to Change on Managers' Future Competence Requirements," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 4(2), pages 126-142.
    20. Ambrose, Maureen L., 2002. "Contemporary justice research: A new look at familiar questions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 803-812, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12476-:d:677205. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.