Using Values, Beliefs, and Norms to Predict Conserving Behaviors in Organizations

Abstract

Although micro‐level research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has started to grow, little is known about the antecedents of employee conserving behaviors .(e.g., recycling, repurposing or reusing materials, and saving energy). Conserving behaviors can be explained by the individual‐level psychographic variables captured by the values‐beliefs‐norms (VBN) framework. Given the mixed empirical findings of previous VBN applications in organizations, this paper examines the full VBN model within a workplace context and extends the model by analyzing the effects of VBN variables on employee conserving behaviors. A quantitative survey with a sample of 714 UK office‐based employees across a range of industries is utilized and data are analyzed using a Smart PLS approach. We find direct and indirect effects among the VBN variables: in particular, personal norms strongly affect all conserving behaviors studied, highlighting the relevance of norming interventions in organizations. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

Organisational Climate and Pro-environmental Behaviours at Work: The Mediating Role of Personal Norms

“…In turn, this personal norm increases the adoption of PEBs at work. These findings corroborate previous studies showing that personal norms – whether general ( Zhang et al, 2013 ; Chou, 2014 ) or focused on work contexts ( Ruepert et al, 2016 ; Afsar and Umrani, 2020 ; Ciocirlan et al, 2020 ) – contribute to workplace PEBs. The current results extend the existing literature by showing that a pro-environmental organisational climate can function as an injunctive norm that incentivises employees’ personal commitment to behaving in sustainable ways, which is in line with a theoretical model of Thøgersen (2006) .…”

“…As each type of norm or climate dimension has a differential impact on behaviour, organisations can follow both paths to encourage voluntary PEBs more fully at work. For example, conservation behaviours (e.g., reducing energy consumption and increasing recycling) are considered to be low-intensity behaviours, with low costs for workers and organisations, but these behaviours are also characterised by low visibility ( Ciocirlan et al, 2020 ). Measures that increase the visibility of coworkers’ descriptive norms can include developing shared goals and communicating achievements through feedback (e.g., Carrico and Riemer, 2011 ; Dixon et al, 2014 ).…”

“…More research is needed on how to incentivise workers to engage in these behaviours at work especially since this context is one in which people spend much of their time. More specifically, this field still lacks studies of the role of organisations’ policies and practices in workers’ adoption of PEBs ( Lo et al, 2012 ; Yuriev et al, 2018 ) and of the psychosocial processes that contribute to more sustainable workplaces ( Ciocirlan et al, 2020 ). This line of research is important to developing a better understanding of how to encourage PEBs at work ( Paillé and Boiral, 2013 ; Carmeli et al, 2017 ; Wesselink et al, 2017 ) and remove potential barriers to their acceptance ( Carrico and Riemer, 2011 ; Yuriev et al, 2018 ).…”

Pro-Environmental Behaviours at Work: The Interactive Role of Norms and Attitudinal Ambivalence

“…Workers can adopt energy conservation behaviours that have a positive impact on their organisation's environmental performance and sustainability [7,11]. A fuller understanding of the barriers to and the facilitators of employees' energy conservation behaviours is thus a critical component of a successful response to this challenge [5,[12][13][14].…”

“…Work environments may present not only additional barriers, such as less autonomy in choosing behaviours or a lack of active interest, but also additional facilitators, such as pressure from colleagues to conserve energy [7]. Previous research on energy conservation behaviours in organisations has highlighted the predictive role of individual factors (e.g., attitudes) [8,12,14,18], relational factors (e.g., social norms) [7,13,19] and institutional factors (e.g., organisational climate) [18][19][20][21][22]. However, interactions between these factors have been explored relatively rarely by researchers.…”