Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

5-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Psychology

Advisor

Charles Scherbaum

Subject Categories

Psychology

Keywords

behavior in organizations; cross-cultural; employee green behaviors; environmentally friendly behaviors; environmentally significant behaviors

Abstract

A rising number of organizations are making changes to minimize their impact on the environment. In order to successfully implement such changes for the long term it is important for organizations to not only address operational, structural and process factors, but also their employees' environmentally significant behaviors (e.g., Siero et al., 1996). Unfortunately, there remains a general lack of understanding of factors affecting employees' environmentally friendly behaviors. In an effort to reduce this gap, the present study employed the Values Beliefs Norms theory (Stern et al., 1999, Stern, 2000) to gain a comprehensive understanding of individuals' environmentally friendly behaviors in organizations as well as at home. The study used an archival dataset from a Fortune 50 global organization to investigate the factors influencing individuals' environmentally friendly behaviors in an organization, at home, and how they vary across cultures. The results confirmed the applicability of VBN theory to different spheres of life: private - at home and public - in an organization. The study further provided support for extending the theory to include perceived ability of an organization to reduce the threat to the environment (Organizational AR), organization's motivation for sustainability efforts, and social norms. The study failed to find any support for variance in the results across difference cultures. Future studies including more than one organization with varying commitment to environmental sustainability efforts will be necessary to investigate the role of culture.

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