How to encourage business professionals to adopt sustainable practices? Experimental evidence that the 'business case' discourse can backfire

被引：13
作者：
Rode, Julian [1 ]
Heinz, Nicolai [1 ]
Cornelissen, Gert [2 ,3 ]
Le Menestrel, Marc [4 ]
机构：
[1] UFZ Helmholtz Ctr Environm Res, Dept Environm Polit, Permoserstr 15, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany
[2] Univ Pompeu Fabra, Dept Econ & Business, Ramon Trias Fargas 25-27, Barcelona 08005, Spain
[3] UPF Barcelona Sch Management, C Balmes 132-134, Barcelona 08008, Spain
[4] INSEAD, 1 Ayer Rajah Ave, Singapore 138676, Singapore
来源：
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION | 2021年 / 283卷
关键词：
Business; Environmental sustainability; Persuasive messaging; Business case for sustainability; Corporate responsibility; CORPORATE SOCIAL-RESPONSIBILITY; PUBLIC SUPPORT; MANAGEMENT; MOTIVATION; VALUES; INCENTIVES; LEGITIMACY; LEADERSHIP; DRIVERS; MATTERS;
D O I：
10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124618
中图分类号：
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号：
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要：
Appeals to companies to adopt more sustainable practices are typically either framed as a request to assume 'responsibility' towards society and the future of the planet, or as a 'business case' (BC) for sustainability. The business case discourse emphasizes how sustainable practices can enhance (financial) business performance. We conducted a survey-based online experiment with business professionals to empirically explore the effectiveness of the two discourse types in motivating business actors to adopt more sustainable practices. Our results suggest that professionals believe that the business case discourse is more effective in encouraging businesses to engage with sustainability than the responsibility discourse. However, exposure to the business case discourse in the experiment did not lead these professionals to state a stronger motivation or intention to act in favour of sustainability within their organization. Furthermore, compared to the responsibility discourse, an appeal based on a business case discourse resulted in less approval for pro-environmental investments when these could not be justified by reputational benefits. Since effective measures to improve corporate environmental performance do not always involve win-win situations, our results raise concerns about the use of the business case approach to encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页数：11
相关论文
共 80 条
[1]   THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR [J].
AJZEN, I .
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND HUMAN DECISION PROCESSES, 1991, 50 (02) :179-211
[2]  
Andriof J., 2001, Perspectives on Corporate Citizenship
[3]  
[Anonymous], 2010, Report of the tenth meeting of the conference of the parties to the convention on biological diversity
[4]   Nonprice incentives and energy conservation [J].
Asensio, Omar I. ;
Delmas, Magali A. .
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2015, 112 (06) :E510-E515
[5]  
Bain PG, 2016, NAT CLIM CHANGE, V6, P154, DOI [10.1038/nclimate2814, 10.1038/NCLIMATE2814]
[6]   Why companies go green: A model of ecological responsiveness [J].
Bansal, P ;
Roth, K .
ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 2000, 43 (04) :717-736
[7]  
Bernauer T, 2016, NAT CLIM CHANGE, V6, P680, DOI [10.1038/NCLIMATE2948, 10.1038/nclimate2948]
[8]  
Bolderdijk JW, 2013, NAT CLIM CHANGE, V3, P413, DOI [10.1038/NCLIMATE1767, 10.1038/nclimate1767]
[9]  
Bowen H.R., 2013, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILIT
[10]   Policies designed for self-interested citizens may undermine "the moral sentiments": Evidence from economic experiments [J].
Bowles, Samuel .
SCIENCE, 2008, 320 (5883) :1605-1609
12345678