Effectively Changing Intra-organizational Behaviors for Environmental Performance

Despite a broadly shared belief by most organizational members that their own organization’s environmental performance should be improved, they frequently struggle to do so. Securing the required behavioral changes within their organization has frequently been identified as one of the crucial challenges encountered. Hence, there is an urgent need for actionable insights into how to develop and sustain these behavioral change processes. To this end, we systematically reviewed and compared research evidence of how intra-organizational behavior for environmental performance improvements develops over time. This review shows that extensive and long-lasting outcomes are achieved when environmental performance improving activities are advocated, role-modelled and endorsed by top and line managers. Shifts in social norms appear strongly associated with extensive and long-lasting behavioral changes, especially when they are broadly shared and embedded in a pro-environmental organizational culture. Initial evidence points towards the importance of role models throughout the organization in developing such a culture. Pro-environmental behavioral changes may be effectively instigated and sustained by: setting goals; providing instructions; facilitating desired behavior through redesigning organizational practices and procedures; and rewarding achieved outcomes. Furthermore, positive performance feedback catalyzes pro-environmental behavioral changes and employee participation in developing new practices and procedures is strongly associated with long-lasting environmental performance improvements. Heightened awareness of current environmental performance and an increase in specific knowledge of activities for environmental performance improvement appear to predict behavioral change. Initial evidence suggests that positive attitudes towards non-green aspects of improving environmental performance are crucial predictors of long-lasting and extensive pro-environmental behavioral changes.