Understanding Managers’ Views of Global Environmental Risk

Abstract

This research investigated managers' views of two global environmental risks: climate change and loss of biodiversity. The intent was to understand why different managers place varying levels of attention and priority on these issues. The data came from in-depth interviews with 28 senior corporate managers across Canada and a range of sectors, although most were employed in the energy sector. Approximately half had direct environmental responsibilities and half had other management duties. Grounded theory was used to collect and analyze the data. From the results, a theoretical framework was constructed to explain important factors that can influence managers' mental models of environmental risk. Four factors relevant to managers' appraisal of the threat of environmental risk include: (1) salience, (2) intrinsic value of nature, (3) knowledge, and (4) perceived resilience of nature. In addition, four factors relevant to managers' view of the appeal of a particular response strategy were: (1) avoidability, (2) perceived costs and benefits, (3) fairness and equity, and (4) effectiveness. The time horizon for decision making was seen as being important in both portions of the mental model.

Perhaps the Dodo should have accounted for human beings? Accounts of humanity and (its) extinction

“…The seeds of these new accounts are emerging in the accounting and management literatures as we see managers struggling to make sense of environmental issues (Hill and Thompson, 2006) and organisational disclosure struggling to reconcile the irreconcilable notions of nature as commodity and as of intrinsic worth. These conflicts seem to us essential -much that we have seen here is irreconcilable and the essential senses of 31 We are grateful to one of the referees for this suggestion but have not explored its complex and significant implications here as to do so would change the essential nature of this essay and take us into more contentious issues of ontology than we care to embrace at this point.…”

“…The seeds of these new accounts are emerging in the accounting and management literatures as we see managers struggling to make sense of environmental issues (Hill and Thompson, 2006) and organisational disclosure struggling to reconcile the irreconcilable notions of nature as commodity and as of intrinsic worth. These conflicts seem to us essential – much that we have seen here is irreconcilable and the essential senses of modern western self must be challenged, (Vinnari and Dillard, 2016).…”

Flood Risk Management: US Army Corps of Engineers and Layperson Perceptions

“…Developed initially for facilitating design of risk communication plans, the expert modeling approach used here for identifying beliefs about a risk management topic of interest (20) has been applied in a variety of domains. (45−47) Past successes with mental modeling in understanding environmental management issues include projects on expert and lay knowledge of climate change, (48−50) environmental manager views on climate change and biodiversity, (51) public perceptions of carbon sequestration techniques, (52) lay per-ceptions of flashfloods and landslides, (16) and numerous unpublished projects with private clients. (53) An important step in the mental modeling process is the development of an EM, a visual representation in the form of an influence diagram (54) that illustrates the key variables in the decision context, viewed as a system, as well as the direction and strength of their influence on other variables in the system.…”

Sustainability at stake during COVID-19: Exploring the role of accounting in addressing environmental crises

“…In order to grasp the seriousness and complexity of analyzing and solving ethical problems, it is essential for students to take courses in accounting ethics and sustainable development ( Boulianne and Keddie, 2018 , Cho and Mäkelä, 2019 , Gray et al, 1994 , Lawson et al, 2014 , Loeb, 1991 ). The literature shows how managers are struggling to make sense of environmental issues ( Hill & Thompson, 2006 ). Incorporating ethical and social aspects into accounting education could help accountants and auditors meet these new challenges ( Gray et al, 1994 ) and hopefully support the development or governance of more eco-conscious business practices within businesses.…”