Download Category: Sustainability

Age and environmental sustainability: A meta-analysis

Wiernik, B. M., Ones, D. S., & Dilchert, S.
Journal of Managerial Psychology, 28, 826-856.
(2013)

Research has shown that individuals of different ages hold different environmental attitudes and perform environmental behaviors of different kinds and to varying degrees. The strength and direction of age-effects observed across studies has been inconsistent, however. This study examined the relationship between age and a variety of environmental sustainability-related psychological variables using meta-analytic techniques.
Methodology: Relationships between age and environmental concern, environmental values, attitudes toward environmental behaviors, environmental awareness, environmental knowledge, environmental motives, environmental intentions, and pro-environmental behaviors were examined. Data from relevant studies between 1970 and 2010 were meta-analyzed to determine the magnitudes of relationships between age and environmental variables, and to investigate whether effects generalize across studies.
Findings: Most relationships were negligibly small. Small but generalizable relationships indicated that older individuals appear to be more likely to engage with nature, avoid environmental harm, and conserve raw materials and natural resources.
Value: Stereotypes about age-differences in environmental sustainability are commonly held in organizations. If work and organizational psychologists are to encourage and help individuals to be more environmentally responsible at work, understanding how age affects these efforts is imperative. By meta-analytically estimating age-differences in environmental sustainability variables, the present study helps to dispel erroneous stereotypes and guide organizations to implement effective environmental interventions.

Measuring, understanding, and influencing employee green behaviors

Ones, D. S., & Dilchert, S.
In A. H. Huffman & S. R. Klein,
Green organizations: Driving change with I-O Psychology (pp. 115-148).
New York: Routledge.
(2013)

In this chapter, we first highlight evidence that environmental sustainability and responsibility are increasingly valued by many corporations. Second, we delineate environmental sustainability constructs at both the organizational and individual levels of analysis. At the organizational level, we distinguish environmental performance from social responsibility, and highlight how each is related to organizational financial performance. At the individual level, we distinguish between general pro-environmental behaviors and employee green behaviors. We also discuss how employee green behaviors relate to constructs such as employee engagement, task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, counterproductive work behaviors, and organizational tenure. Third, we describe a taxonomy of employee green behaviors, noting functional and motivational differences among categories. Fourth, we review person-based approaches (recruiting, staffing) and intervention-based approaches (training, motivational interventions) that can be used to influence employee green behaviors in organizations. We conclude by highlighting streams of employee-focused research that will contribute to improving environmental sustainability of organizations.

Environmental sustainability at work: A call to action

Ones, D. S., & Dilchert, S.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 5, 444-466.
(2012)

As world economies and organizations transform to minimize, mitigate, and neutralize their environmental impact and adapt for environmental sustainability, industrial and organizational psychologists are uniquely positioned to aid in these efforts. Industrial and organizational (I–O) psychology has a central role to play and a duty to contribute to organizational greening initiatives. In making our case, we first describe how economic activities, organizations, and workplaces of today are in the midst of unprecedented change in terms of their impacts on and relations with the natural environment. To ensure conceptual clarity, we then delineate environmental sustainability constructs that are relevant in work settings and distinguish them from related concepts (e.g., social responsibility). We also provide an overview of psychological contributions to environmental sustainability and note that so far there is limited I–O psychological research and application. We conclude by describing ways in which I–O psychologists can contribute.

Environmental sustainability in and of organizations

Dilchert, S., & Ones, D. S.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 5, 509-517.
(2012)

We note that the current intellectual, social, and economic milieu has led to general acceptance of environmental sustainability as one of the most important issues of our time. Environmental sustainability is a big idea, and it is in the air (Gladwell, 2008). Few industrialorganizational (IO) psychologists disagree. However, there are many different ideas on the what, where, and how our field can contribute. We review facilitators, drivers, and barriers to environmental sustainability of organizations. We also discuss the ways in which cultural and international research can strengthen sustainability research and practice. In order to make a meaningful difference and positive environmental impact, IO psychologists and HR practitioners need to focus on their unique skills and influence organizational environmental sustainability by designing and shaping work, workplaces, and workforces.

Measuring and improving environmental sustainability

Dilchert, S., & Ones, D. S.
In S. E. Jackson, D. S. Ones, & S. Dilchert (Eds.),
Managing human resources for environmental sustainability (pp. 187-221).
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
(2012)

A thorough understanding of how organizational activities can be managed in environmentally sustainable ways requires input from organizational and behavioral scholars and practitioners and needs to be based on individual and organizational level measurement. At the individual level, the degree to which employees contribute to or detract from environmental sustainability can be observed, measured, and influenced. At the organizational level, corporate environmental performance can be conceptualized and measured to help manage the triple bottom-line (Elkington, 1998, Savitz & Weber, 2006). The goal of this chapter is to highlight some of the ways that environmental sustainability has been conceptualized and measured at both levels, review approaches to positively impact environmental sustainability at the individual level, and summarize important variables that relate to it at the organizational level. It is hoped that this review will increase the knowledge base on and understanding of those issues, and that it will aid industrial and organizational psychologists in their efforts to improve environmental sustainability in organizations and their workforces.

Employee green behaviors

Ones, D. S., & Dilchert, S. (2012).  
In S. E. Jackson, D. S. Ones, & S. Dilchert (Eds.),
Managing human resources for environmental sustainability (pp. 85-116).
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
(2012)

The overall objective of this chapter is to describe individual variability in employee behaviors that relate to environmental sustainability work settings. To achieve this goal, we first define a broad category of behavior that we have come to refer to as employee green behavior. Second, we then detail a taxonomy of employee green behaviors that is intended to describe the content of employee green behavior categories and define a construct of individual level environmental sustainability in work settings. Third, ‘we address the connections between employee green behaviors and model of individual level performance. Fourth, we offer guidance on how the framework presented in this chapter can be used in human resources management practice and research applications. We conclude by addressing construct validity questions about the model of employee green behaviors.

Environmental sustainability and organization sensing at Procter & Gamble

Biga, A., Dilchert, S., McCance, A. S., Gibby, R. E., Oudersluys, A. D.
In S. E. Jackson, D. S. Ones, & S. Dilchert (Eds.),
Managing human resources for environmental sustainability (pp. 362-374).
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
(2012)

This case study provides a brief overview of P&G’s sustainability efforts in general and illustrates how the company uses organizational surveys as a pulse check on employee engagement and its link to environmental sustainability behaviors in the workplace.

Human resources responsibilities: Frequent flyer radiation exposure

Barish, R. J., & Dilchert, S.
Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 22, 361-369.
(2010)

At the high altitudes that are the domain of commercial airliners, passengers are exposed to cosmic radiation at an intensity that is hundreds of times greater than at ground level. Such radiation exposure represents a risk for individuals who fly frequently as part of their job. Business travelers who fly at least 85,000 miles (137,000 km) per year are likely to receive radiation exposures that exceed the regulatory limit established for members of the general public exposed by proximity to medical or industrial radiation facilities. Their exposures will not, however, exceed the higher level allowed for radiation workers. Human resource managers need to identify those employees who fly frequently on company business or due to a company-initiated relocation (e.g., expatriate assignment), classify them as radiation workers, and ensure compliance with the regulatory requirements for providing risk education and exposure assessment for such workers. Failure to do so may incur potential liability for radiation-related health problems, particularly in the case of pregnant employees where the embryo or fetus is also at risk.