Employee environmental responsibility: empirical analysis and typology

Employee environmental responsibility: empirical analysis and typology

Автор: Arzamasova Galina S., Esaulova Irena A.

Журнал: Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast @volnc-esc-en

Рубрика: Social and economic development

Статья в выпуске: 6 т.15, 2022 года.

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Environmental responsibility of employees is a key prerequisite for achieving environmental goals of an organization and improving its environmental performance at the managerial and executive levels. Forming environmental responsibility in employees requires an understanding of the mechanisms and drivers of individual environmental behavior that may differ considerably, depending on the environmentally significant professional and personal qualities that encourage their conscious manifestation at work. The purpose of our study is to provide theoretical and empirical substantiation of the types of employee environmental responsibility. Methodological basis for our work includes the concept of individual environmental responsibility and environmental behavior of employees. The empirical base of the study is formed by the data from a survey of employees at Russian pro-environmental enterprises of the oil and gas industry. According to the results of the cluster analysis of the data obtained, we reveal characteristics for the role models of environmental behavior and identify four types of employees: ecoconservatives, eco-pragmatists, eco-activists, eco-pro-activists, differing in the awareness and acceptance of the company’s environmental values, compliance with environmental requirements in work activities, interest in participating in additional environmental activities and initiative in addressing environmental issues. The results obtained can be used to study the nature of individual environmental behavior and environmental responsibility; they can be also useful for companies in developing and improving human resource management policies and practices aimed at employees’ environmental development. The main limitation is the fact that we have chosen major oil and gas industry enterprises as the object of research, and they have a highly developed environmental policy, environmental management and the practice of environmental development of personnel; this narrows the significance of the results obtained within one industry, not allowing us to draw generalized conclusions and give practical recommendations.

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Employee environmental behavior, required environmental behavior, voluntary environmental behavior, employee environmental responsibility, environmental competence, environmental engagement

Короткий адрес: https://sciup.org/147239134

IDR: 147239134   |   DOI: 10.15838/esc.2022.6.84.14

Текст научной статьи Employee environmental responsibility: empirical analysis and typology

The priority of environmental protection and conservation of natural resources has been a global trend in recent decades encouraging companies to include environmental safety and responsibility issues in development strategies as significant factors promoting competitiveness, investment attractiveness and trust of stakeholders (Dummett, 2008; Wang, 2016). Companies’ experience proves that sustainable long-term environmental results are achieved through the consolidation of environmental activities and the human resource management system (HRM), which ensures increased competence, awareness and involvement of personnel in solving environmental problems in every business process and workplace (Bunge et al., 1996; Del Brio et al., 2007; Jabbour et al., 2010; Potrich et al., 2019).

In recent years, the understanding of the critical role of personnel in the implementation of the environmental strategy of an organization brings to the fore the concept of employee environmental responsibility (EER), which is determined by personal internal motives and attitudes in relation to environmental problems and is reflected in various models of employee environmental behavior. Understanding the role models of employee behavior and their manifestation in real actions is an important condition for achieving the company’s environmental goals (Ramus, Killmer, 2007; Benn et al., 2015; Boiral et al., 2015). Currently, various typologies of employees are presented in the literature depending on the presence or absence of individual qualities necessary for performing environmentally oriented activities, but not taking into account the relationship of these qualities or behaviors with employee environmental responsibility, which limits the understanding of organizational and personal mechanisms of its formation in a real organization. In this regard, the purpose of the research is to empirically substantiate and identify the types of employee environmental responsibility.

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