IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i24p16718-d1297590.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Greening Organizations: The Relationship between Employee Environmental Concern, Perception of Advantages of Eco-Innovations, and Support for Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Salvatore Zappalà

    (Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Luca Radassao

    (Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Ferdinando Toscano

    (Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is a relevant challenge for companies, and employees’ perceptions of the advantages of ecological innovation, or eco-innovation, introduced by the company represent an important driver of organizational change adoption. This study examines if employees’ environmental concerns, considered as a general attitude and a value orientation, are related to the perception of the advantages of eco-innovation. Building on climate literature, it also investigates if the climate of support for innovation moderates that relationship. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 130 Italian workers. A confirmatory factor analysis and a moderation model were tested. Results show a significant positive relationship between employees’ environmental concern and perceived benefits of eco-innovation. Intriguingly, the climate of support for innovation negatively, instead of positively, moderated this relationship. Results suggest that in order to increase the perception of the benefits of the introduced eco-innovations, organizations should consider the whole set of innovations undertaken and address, especially to very concerned and value oriented employees, the unique environmental benefits of those innovations.

Suggested Citation

  • Salvatore Zappalà & Luca Radassao & Ferdinando Toscano, 2023. "Greening Organizations: The Relationship between Employee Environmental Concern, Perception of Advantages of Eco-Innovations, and Support for Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16718-:d:1297590
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16718/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16718/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yongrok Choi & Yanni Yu, 2014. "The Influence of Perceived Corporate Sustainability Practices on Employees and Organizational Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Rennings, Klaus & Ziegler, Andreas & Ankele, Kathrin & Hoffmann, Esther, 2006. "The influence of different characteristics of the EU environmental management and auditing scheme on technical environmental innovations and economic performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 45-59, April.
    3. Ramus, Catherine A., 2002. "Encouraging innovative environmental actions: what companies and managers must do," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 151-164, July.
    4. Ping Han & Zepeng Tong & Yan Sun & Xuefeng Chen, 2022. "Impact of Climate Change Beliefs on Youths’ Engagement in Energy-Conservation Behavior: The Mediating Mechanism of Environmental Concerns," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-16, June.
    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. Jana Hojnik, 2017. "In Pursuit of Eco-innovation," UPP Monograph Series, University of Primorska Press, number 978-961-7023-53-4.
    2. Tiina Onkila & Bhavesh Sarna, 2022. "A systematic literature review on employee relations with CSR: State of art and future research agenda," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(2), pages 435-447, March.
    3. Christoph P. Kiefer & Pablo Del Río González & Javier Carrillo‐Hermosilla, 2019. "Drivers and barriers of eco‐innovation types for sustainable transitions: A quantitative perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 155-172, January.
    4. Kube, Roland & von Graevenitz, Kathrine & Löschel, Andreas & Massier, Philipp, 2019. "Do voluntary environmental programs reduce emissions? EMAS in the German manufacturing sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    5. Zhe Xu & Ying Wang & Xiaoliang Shi & Yingying Qiu & Chunzi Su & Dan He, 2025. "The Impact of Environmental Subsidies and Enforcement on Green Innovation: Evidence from Heavy-Polluting Enterprises in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-25, February.
    6. Durán-Romero, Gemma & López, Ana M. & Beliaeva, Tatiana & Ferasso, Marcos & Garonne, Christophe & Jones, Paul, 2020. "Bridging the gap between circular economy and climate change mitigation policies through eco-innovations and Quintuple Helix Model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    7. Yongrok Choi & Di Gao, 2014. "The Role of Intermediation in the Governance of Sustainable Chinese Web Marketing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(7), pages 1-17, June.
    8. Joana Costa, 2021. "Carrots or Sticks: Which Policies Matter the Most in Sustainable Resource Management?," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Qunli Wu & Xinxin Xu & Ye Tian, 2022. "Research on enterprises emission reduction technology innovation strategies with government subsidy and carbon trading mechanism," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 2083-2097, September.
    10. Jiafeng Gu, 2021. "Spatial Dynamics between Firm Sales and Environmental Responsibility: The Mediating Role of Corporate Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    11. Ruzhi Xu & Tingting Guo & Huawei Zhao, 2022. "Research on the Path of Policy Financing Guarantee to Promote SMEs’ Green Technology Innovation," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-24, February.
    12. Christopher Durugbo & Joseph Amankwah‐Amoah, 2019. "Global sustainability under uncertainty: How do multinationals craft regulatory policies?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1500-1516, November.
    13. Tilmann Rave, 2009. "Umweltinnovationen und Umweltpatente in Deutschland – erste empirische Ergebnisse," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 62(14), pages 16-23, July.
    14. Yongan Zhang & Umair Khan & Seoyeon Lee & Madiha Salik, 2019. "The Influence of Management Innovation and Technological Innovation on Organization Performance. A Mediating Role of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.
    15. António Pedro Vieira & Gregor Radonjič, 2020. "Disclosure of eco‐innovation activities in European large companies' sustainability reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2240-2253, September.
    16. Dewick, Paul & Maytorena-Sanchez, Eunice & Winch, Graham, 2019. "Regulation and regenerative eco-innovation: the case of extracted materials in the UK," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 38-51.
    17. Jianhua Yin & Sen Wang, 2018. "The effects of corporate environmental disclosure on environmental innovation from stakeholder perspectives," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(8), pages 905-919, February.
    18. Ge Zhang & Lianmei Zhu, 2025. "The Peer Effects of Green Management Innovation in China’s Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-28, March.
    19. De Marchi, Valentina, 2012. "Environmental innovation and R&D cooperation: Empirical evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 614-623.
    20. Galdeano-Gómez, Emilio & Céspedes-Lorente, José, 2008. "Environmental spillover effects on firm productivity and efficiency: An analysis of agri-food business in Southeast Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 131-139, August.

    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:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16718-:d:1297590. 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.