It is now clear that managers, and their organisations, are under increasing pressure to respond to environmental issues (IPCC, 2007; KPMG, 2005). Research has identified the important role that individuals play in affecting organisational change (Andersson & Bateman, 2000; Bansal, 2003; Starik, 1995), yet more remains to be done. Despite past success of cognitive and behavioural perspectives in explaining proenvironmental behaviours, few researchers have explored its affective dimensions (Kals & Maes, 2002; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). While organisations and the natural environment (ONE) research does mention emotive components of proenvironmental behaviours (Andersson & Bateman, 2000; Bansal & Roth, 2000; Ramus & Steger, 2000), there are very few studies that examine emotion directly. The lack of affective research on environmental issues in organisations has meant that ONE research has not kept pace with the theoretical and empirical developments in wider management literature that clearly demonstrate that emotion is an inescapable part of work-life (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995; Fineman, 2003; Härtel, Zerbe, & Ashkanasy, 2005). As such, therefore, more research is needed to examine further the role of emotion in driving proenvironmental behaviours (Kals & Maes, 2002; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). Within this research, I aim to address this need by developing an understanding of the contribution of emotion to workplace proenvironmental behaviours. I draw on Weiss and Cropanzano’s (1996) Affective Events Theory and Pratt and Dutton’s (2000) theory of issue ownership to assimilate current understanding of the role of emotion in proenvironmental behaviour, from the fields of environmental psychology, ONE, and emotions in organisations. I also integrate Stern’s (2000) Value-Belief-Norm theory in order to account for both attitudinal and affective antecedents of proenvironmental behaviour. The relationships between environmental issues, emotions, and proenvironmental behaviour were explored in Study 1. Thematic analysis and content analysis of 31 interview transcripts revealed that managers experience positive and negative emotional responses to environmental issues. Results showed that emotions were expressed significantly more often when managers discussed environmental issues and proenvironmental behaviours at the individual level, compared to the organisational level. These findings demonstrate the importance of the organisational context in exploring the antecedents of workplace proenvironmental behaviour. In Study 2, my aim was to test a conceptual model of affective and attitudinal components of workplace proenvironmental behaviour. The sample for the study was 324 employees from five Australian organisations. I developed a web-survey to collect data from the employees and used structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse the data. Results showed that aggregated positive emotions enhanced workplace proenvironmental behaviours. Contrary to expectations, however, I found that aggregated negative emotion impeded proenvironmental behaviour. Furthermore, results suggested that the direct relationships between emotion and behaviour were more important than the mediated effect of issue ownership. I conducted two experiments to test further the direct effects of emotion on workplace proenvironmental behaviour and issue ownership. In Study 3, I conducted a laboratory experiment. Five discrete emotions were manipulated using audio-visual stimuli developed for the purposes of the research. One hundred and ninety-four masters and final year undergraduate students participated in the study. Results demonstrated that emotions of the same valence led to different effects on workplace proenvironmental behaviour intentions and recycling behaviours. Contrary to expectations, results showed no significant effect of emotion on environmental issue ownership. Study 4 extended this work by testing the effect of the five discrete emotion manipulations in a field study. The sample for the study was 135 office-based employees. Results revealed that the emotion manipulations had a significant effect on proenvironmental behaviour, as measured by requests for information on improving environmental performance. Congruent with findings from Study 3, results of Study 4 demonstrated that emotions of the same valence led to different effects on workplace proenvironmental behaviour. Comparisons of effect sizes across Studies 3 and 4 revealed attenuation of the effect of emotion in an organisational setting. Together, these findings demonstrate the importance of emotion as an antecedent of proenvironmental behaviour. Findings demonstrated the significant role of organisational context in the relationship between emotions and workplace proenvironmental behaviour. Indeed, this research demonstrates that emotional reactions can induce proenvironmental behaviour. In a workplace context, however, results revealed that individuals also look to the organisation for cues as to the appropriateness of engaging in such behaviour. This research has implications for theory, research, and practice, and makes a contribution to the three research areas of organisations and the natural environment, environmental psychology, and emotions in organisations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/253990 |
| Creators | Sally Russell |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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