The Psychology of Green Organizations

As we move further into the 21st century, the global challenges and consequences posed by climate change are becoming increasingly apparent. Although organizations are considered significant contributors to climate change, they also have the potential to positively affect it through their employees. As a result, understanding how employees’ pro-environmental initiatives can positively affect climate change has increasingly become the focus of inquiry among organizational researchers.

The Psychology of Green Organizations brings together a number of these researchers to review leading research in different areas of organizational environmental sustainability. In so doing, this book consolidates available knowledge on employees’ contributions to corporate environmental initiatives, stimulates future empirical research on this topic, and provides recommendations for how organizations can improve their environmental performance through their employees.

Many chapters provide case examples of environmentally sustainable organizations to illustrate lessons gleaned from research. Chapters in part 1 provide a conceptual, theoretical, and methodological foundation for research on workplace pro-environmental behaviors, while those in parts 2 and 3 review research on the promotion of workplace pro-environmental behaviors at the individual and organizational levels, respectively. Part 4 explores one organization that has been successful at promoting employees’ environmental initiatives, highlighting how both organizational and individual factors can be used to effect major changes in corporate environmental sustainability.

Table of Contents

Part I: Setting the Stage
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. The Nature of Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Chapter 3. Theoretical Basis for Organizational Pro-Environmental Research
Chapter 4. Research Methods in Pro-Environmental Research
Chapter 5. Diary Methods and Workplace Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Part II: The Role of Individuals in Promoting Workplace Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Chapter 6. Individual Determinants of Workplace Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Chapter 7. The Relationship between Emotions and Workplace Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Chapter 8. The Role of Leadership in Promoting Workplace Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Chapter 9. Environmental Locus of Control

Part III: The Role of Organizations in Promoting Workplace Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Chapter 10. “Green Me Up, Scotty”: Psychological Influence Techniques for Increasing Pro-Environmental Employee Behavior
Chapter 11. Organizational Change
Chapter 12. Human Resource Management Approaches
Chapter 13. Ergonomic Initiatives
Chapter 14. Pro-Environmental Organizational Culture and Climate

Part IV: Tying It All Together
Chapter 15. Sustainable Innovation at Interface: Workplace Pro-Environmental Behavior as a Collective Driver for Continuous Improvement