Motivating energy conservation in organisations: smart metering and the emergence and diffusion of social norms

Pro-environmental behaviours at workplace

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of individual and organisational factors on pro-environmental behaviours of the employees at the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

A model explaining pro-environmental behaviours at workplace has been proposed based on contemporary literature related to value-belief-norm (VBN) theory, corporate environmentalism framework and norm. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 20 manufacturing organisations in India and 383 useful individual responses were collected. The proposed model has been tested with the help of structural regression analysis.

Findings

The results of the study show that both individual characteristics as well as organisational efforts influence employees’ pro-environmental behaviours. However, the effect varies as per the type of behaviour. Personal norm mediates the relationship between subjective social norm and two types of pro-environmental behaviours.

Research limitations/implications

An individual faces subjective or objective constraints while exhibiting pro-environmental behaviours. The effect of subjective or the objective constraint needs to be explored in future studies.

Originality/value

To explain pro-environmental behaviours at workplace the authors tested VBN theory, as it was overlooked till date in management literature. It also contributes to the VBN literature by extending it to include organisational variables like corporate environmentalism and social psychological variable like social norm.