PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Company culture shapes willingness of workers to act sustainably, research shows

Company culture shapes willingness of workers to act sustainably, research shows
2023-06-20
(Press-News.org) Amidst rising concerns about the global climate crisis, Princeton researchers have uncovered the surprisingly large role that companies play in shaping sustainable behaviors among employees, as well as a link between eco-friendly behaviors and happier workers.

In research published in Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, the Princeton team reported the results from a nationwide study of employees to understand the factors that influence whether workers take sustainable actions and incorporate the environment into their day-to-day decision making.

The results highlighted the critical, yet overlooked, role of social and organizational factors in shaping sustainable behaviors. While the researchers did find that personal factors, such as whether people were concerned about climate change or whether they acted sustainably in their home lives, were important predictors of eco-friendly behaviors at work, they also found that independently from personal beliefs and behaviors, employees were more likely to act sustainably at work if they felt their actions were supported by their company and coworkers.

“We found that organizational signals matter hugely. They matter on top of individual attitudes and what people do in different contexts outside of work,” said Jordana Composto, a graduate student in psychology and the study’s first author. “If we only focus on changing individual attitudes and behaviors, then we totally miss the important role that organizational context plays in amplifying or dampening pro-environmental decisions.”

The results underline the importance of perception in shaping green behaviors among employees. For example, if people think their company or coworkers will disapprove of their actions to incorporate sustainability into their job tasks, people might avoid taking those pro-environmental actions, even if they personally believe in them. On the other hand, if workers think their company prioritizes sustainability, then those workers might be more likely to incorporate environmental outcomes into their daily job tasks, even if they are personally less concerned about climate change.

Moreover, Elke Weber, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and public affairs, who led the research team, said the study documented a possible “virtuous cycle” between sustainable behaviors and overall job satisfaction, meaning that employees who reported taking sustainable actions at work also reported a higher level of job satisfaction. She said that the positive relationship between sustainable behaviors and job satisfaction could be an incentive for companies to take sustainability seriously at their organizations.

“The ability to express one’s values and beliefs actually does influence people’s happiness at work. That should get the attention of employers,” Weber said.  “If companies can create an environment where their workers feel they can express their values, they could end up with happier and more engaged workers.”

The findings of the study parallel the theme of the Andlinger Center’s 2022 E-ffiliates Retreat, which spotlighted the ways in which organizations can harness insights from behavioral science to drive meaningful climate action and argued that behavior change within organizations can be a powerful climate mitigation tool.

“We know that organizational change is going to be critical to address the climate crisis,” Composto said. “And in this study, we showed that the impetus isn’t solely on employees to change their attitudes and behaviors. A lot of climate action has to be reinforced at the organizational level.”

The researchers also noted that their study comes in the midst of a generational shift in how many Americans think about their jobs and the role of companies in society. “Work is not just about bringing home the bacon anymore,” said Weber. “More and more, people are starting to expect that work should also supply some broader meaning to their lives and that companies have moral and social obligations as members of society.”

With the growing expectation that companies should act as responsible members of society, the researchers argued that more interdisciplinary approaches, such as the one they used for their study, are needed to understand how individuals exist and mediate their personal beliefs within a larger social and organizational framework. Such approaches are important for understanding how individuals in decision-making roles at companies can act to either facilitate or block overall organizational change.

“We don’t think enough about the interactions between individual and organizational action,” said Composto. “Understanding those dynamics is crucial to effective climate action from the private sector.”

While the researchers cautioned that their current work is strictly correlational, they are following up with experimental studies that could begin to tease apart the underlying causes of the relationships they observed between the various predictors of sustainable behaviors by employees.

The paper, “Predictors and consequences of pro-environmental behavior at work,” was published May 3 in Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology. In addition to Composto and Weber, Sara Constantino, assistant professor in psychology and public policy and urban affairs at Northeastern University and a visiting research scholar at Princeton’s Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment, was also an author on the study.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Company culture shapes willingness of workers to act sustainably, research shows Company culture shapes willingness of workers to act sustainably, research shows 2 Company culture shapes willingness of workers to act sustainably, research shows 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

USF Health researchers show how the placenta protects fetus in the womb against viral infections

2023-06-20
Give credit to your dad’s gene for keeping you safe during those long months in your mother’s womb. Because without this genetic warrior, you might have succumbed to any number of viral infections that otherwise could be fatal to a fetus. A new paper published this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe explains the mechanisms behind this anti-viral protection. “What’s unique about this gene is how it produces a form of defense for the baby in the womb,’’ said Hana Totary-Jain, PhD., associate professor of Molecular ...

Outcome indicators make quality of life after childhood cancer measurable

2023-06-20
Outcome indicators make quality of life after childhood cancer measurable A new measurement tool helps analyzing the survival rate of children with cancer, but also the quality of survival. Researchers at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology have worked with patients and survivors to develop a set of outcome indicators that measure health issues. By making the balance between survival and quality of life measurable, the outcome indicators help improve care for children with cancer. There are many types of childhood cancer, and the consequences ...

Hidden mechanism connects cancer and diabetes

2023-06-20
Back in the 1920s, researchers discovered that cancer patients had sweet-smelling urine. First, the doctors were puzzled, but they soon realised that it was a result of elevated blood sugar levels. “This was one of the first things we learned about cancer patients,” says Associate Professor Lykke Sylow. The sweet-smelling urine suggested that cancer affects the body’s blood sugar level. But how? A new study is ready to answer that question. Where previous studies have examined the connection between cancer and insulin, Lykke Sylow and colleagues’ ...

The meaning behind the Woodstock character in ‘Peanuts’

2023-06-20
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Charles Schulz, creator of the comic strip “Peanuts,” was anything but a hippie.   Still, he named the beloved yellow bird character in “Peanuts” Woodstock after the famous counterculture music festival that was attended and celebrated by the younger generation who grew up in the 1960s and ’70s, including many who saw themselves as hippies.   The question is why, says Michelle Ann Abate, author of the new book Blockheads, Beagles, and Sweet Babboos: New Perspectives on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts.   Based on her critical analysis of the strips featuring Woodstock, ...

Restoring the blood-brain barrier?

2023-06-20
There's a bouncer in everyone: The blood-brain barrier, a layer of cells between blood vessels and the rest of the brain, kicks out toxins, pathogens and other undesirables that can sabotage the brain's precious gray matter. When the bouncer is off its guard and a rowdy element gains entry, a variety of conditions can crop up. Barrier-invading cancer cells can develop into tumors, and multiple sclerosis can occur when too many white blood cells slip pass the barrier, leading to an autoimmune attack on the protective layer of brain nerves, hindering their communication with the rest of the body. "A leaky blood-brain barrier is a common ...

Combining cancer-targeting virus therapy with radiation to fight brain cancer works better than either treatment on its own: study

2023-06-20
EDMONTON — Combining a cancer-targeting virus with radiation to treat brain cancer in mice was more effective than either therapy on its own according to University of Alberta research, providing hope for new treatments that combine immunotherapy with traditional surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. The researchers treated mice with glioblastoma brain tumours simultaneously with high-dose radiation and a genetically engineered oncolytic vaccinia virus, a virus that has been used safely as a vaccine against smallpox.  The ...

Exploring the deep connections between adolescent sleep and overall health

2023-06-20
As director of SRI’s Human Sleep Research Program, Fiona Baker studies the complex interplay between sleep and overall health and well-being. Much of her work has been focused on sleep patterns in adult women, but recently her attention has turned to adolescents. Adolescence is a crucial time for developing healthy sleep patterns as it is for brain development. In her research, Baker draws clear lines of connection between the two. “Sleep is so important to us all, but especially for teenagers or adolescents,” Baker says. “Between the ages of 10 and 21, or so, and even a little later, the ...

SRI seeks to learn how insects speak through smells

2023-06-20
All around us, insects are speaking to each other: jockeying for mates, searching for food, and trying to avoid becoming someone else’s next meal. Some of this communication is easy to spot—like the flashes of fireflies on a summer night or a screaming chorus of cicadas in the afternoon—but many of the most sophisticated conversations are challenging to observe, occurring through an exchange of chemical scents. Understanding chemical communication could be the key to finding new, more effective ways to protect crops or ward off biting insects that can transmit diseases. Researchers ...

Cuttlefish brain atlas first of its kind

Cuttlefish brain atlas first of its kind
2023-06-20
NEW YORK, NY — Anything with three hearts, blue blood and skin that can change colors like a display in Times Square is likely to turn heads. Meet Sepia bandensis, known more descriptively as the camouflaging dwarf cuttlefish. Over the past three years, a team led by neuroscientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman that includes data experts and web designers has put together a brain atlas of this captivating cephalopod: a neuroanatomical roadmap depicting for the first time the brain’s overall 32-lobed structure as well its cellular organization.    The ...

Climate action plans mobilize limited urban change, researchers report

Climate action plans mobilize limited urban change, researchers report
2023-06-20
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), released just prior to an international climate convention in 2015, explicitly stated that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions were the highest in history, with clear and widespread impacts on the climate system. Since then, hundreds of cities across the world have published their own climate action plans (CAPs), detailing how their urban areas will handle climate change. How do the plans stack up against one another and against the recommended ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

A third of licensed GPs in England not working in NHS general practice

ChatGPT “thought on the fly” when put through Ancient Greek maths puzzle

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

PLOS One study: In adolescent lab animals exposed to cocaine, High-Intensity Interval Training boosts aversion to the drug

Scientists identify four ways our bodies respond to COVID-19 vaccines

Stronger together: A new fusion protein boosts cancer immunotherapy

Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering

[Press-News.org] Company culture shapes willingness of workers to act sustainably, research shows