Exploring the effect of organisational variables on employee environmental behaviour

Wells, V.K.; Gregory-Smith, D.; Manika, D.; Graham, S.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between organisational and individual variables within the context of employees’ environmental behaviour in the workplace. It also explores the changes in employees’ behaviour, and perceptions of organisational support and incentives, after exposure to an environmental intervention (i.e. heating/cooling campaign and recycling campaign in the workplace). The intervention was designed by Global Action Plan, the UK’s leading environmental charity, and findings are based on a large-scale quantitative survey of four UK-based companies, also administered by the charity. The data analysis showed that infrastructure (measured by how well the companies’ environment is set up to support environmental behaviour and the amount of knowledge/support about related practices), is correlated significantly with all individual behaviour measures. Interestingly, organisational commitment was not correlated with employees’ environmental behaviour or attitudes, given that prior literature provides mixed results for this relationship. Overall, this study’s findings highlight the need for further research on various dimensions of organisational commitment and its impact on employees’ behaviour, as well as the need for incentives and internal support from colleagues and line managers in generating significant environmental behavioural change in the workplace.

Citation

Wells, V., Gregory-Smith, D., Manika, D., & Graham, S. (2013, July). Exploring the effect of organisational variables on employee environmental behaviour. Paper presented at Academy of Marketing Conference 2013 - Marketing Relevance., Cardiff, Wales, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Academy of Marketing Conference 2013 - Marketing Relevance.
• Start Date: Jul 8, 2013
• End Date: Jul 11, 2013
• Publication Date: Jul 9, 2013
• Deposit Date: Mar 4, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 19, 2015
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1684438
• Publisher URL: https://marketing.conference-services.net/programme.asp?conferenceID=3554&action=prog_titles
• Additional Information: Conference dates: 8-11 July, 2013 Paper delivered: Tuesday 9 July 2013: Nonprofit and Social Marketing 1, 15.45 - 17.15