Cakil Agnew
Dr Çakil Agnew is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Heriot-Watt University, Dubai. She is the Director for the Online MSc Business and Organisational Psychology Programme. She is an industrial psychologist with a background training in Human Factors and Applied Psychology. She is particularly interested in the impact of safety and leadership on performance at work, in high-risk industries. She is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). She also supervises PhD students.
Examining the predictors of green behaviours in the workplace – a higher education perspective as a change maker.
Higher Education Institution (HEI) employees are key to adapting to climate change: through sustainable research, education (Lozano et al., 2013), and developing innovative solutions, they act as environmental change-makers for global society (Stephens et al., 2008.) However, it’s unclear how to encourage greater environmental sustainability in HEI employees. We investigated the predicting factors of Organisational Citizenship Behaviours for the Environment (OCBE) - voluntary employee green behaviours, supporting wider environmental sustainability goals (Paillé & Boiral, 2013). More specifically, we examined the relationship between OCBE and (1) employee Environmental Commitment (Raineri and Paille, 2016), (2) Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC), (3) the Leadership style Environmentally Specific Transformational Leadership (ETFL; Robertson, 2018), and (4) employee perceptions of company culture surrounding environmental sustainability, Green Organisational Climate (GOC; Norton et al., 2014.)
Methods
Approximately 250 HEI employees (Mage= 42.8 years, SD= 10.3, N= 70% females) completed an online Qualtrics survey. Participants provided self-reported data on the above variables.
Expected Results
Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was conducted. Preliminary results showed Environmental Commitment was the strongest predictor of green behaviours. Perceived Behavioural Control directly predicted green behaviours and moderated the Environmental Commitment-Behaviour relationship, suggesting higher control enables employees to act on their environmental commitment. Environmentally Specific Transformational Leadership and Green Organisational Climate both directly predicted green behaviours, and indirectly through Environmental Commitment. Leadership and organisational culture may influence behaviour by first fostering a greater Environmental Commitment in their employees, motivating them towards green behaviours.
Conclusions
Environmental Commitment is central to OCBE, and HEIs can enhance it by fostering environmental leadership and a culture aligned with sustainability. However, providing employees with greater control is essential for enabling green behaviours. We offer a framework for HEIs to promote employee green behaviours, highlighting the importance of an organisation-wide approach to support employees in addressing climate targets and act as environmental change-makers
References
Lozano, R., Lozano, F. J., Mulder, K., Huisingh, D., & Waas, T. (2013). Advancing Higher Education for Sustainable Development: International insights and critical reflections. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.03.034
Norton, T. A., Zacher, H., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2014). Organisational sustainability policies and employee green behaviour: The mediating role of work climate perceptions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 38, 49–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.12.008
Paillé, P., & Boiral, O. (2013). Pro-environmental behavior at work: Construct validity and determinants. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 118–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.07.014
Raineri, N., & Paillé, P. (2016). Linking corporate policy and supervisory support with environmental citizenship behaviors: The role of employee environmental beliefs and commitment. Journal of Business Ethics, 137(1), 129–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2548-x
Robertson, J. L. (2018). The Nature, Measurement and Nomological Network of Environmentally Specific Transformational Leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(4), 961–975. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3569-4
Stephens, J. C., Hernandez, M. E., Román, M., Graham, A. C., & Scholz, R. W. (2008). Higher education as a change agent for sustainability in different cultures and contexts. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(3), 317–338. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370810885916