Engagement in Sustainability Behaviors in Normative Social and Utilitarian Economic-Driven Organizations

Abstract

We delineate a dual-pathway process that links two different types of organizational identity to members’ engagement in sustainability-related behaviors. Specifically, we explain how organizations with a normative social identity and those with a utilitarian economic identity foster such engagement by specifying two distinct human resource management (HRM) practices (commitment- and transaction-based) and demonstrating the different mechanisms whereby this process unfolds. This endeavor informs the community of scholarship and practice on sustainability by opening up new avenues for research and offering implications for policy and practice regarding the ways by which sustainability behaviors of members (employees and managers) in organizations with seemingly opposing identities can be promoted.

Green human resources management: A novel tool to boost work engagement

“…In this context, work engagement should be understood as physical and psychological conditions related to work cognitively and emotionally, encouraging attitudes and behaviors necessary for achieving organizational level goals (Keyko et al, 2016). Emotional attachment with a target of possession can positively affect employees' attitudes in an organization and result in higher levels of identification and engagement (Schaufeli et al, 2017), and it can create advantage for organizations on their journey for sustainability by making employees prefer to stay in their organization and work hard for its strategic goals (Carmeli et al, 2022). As to Chang et al (2020), a common vision regarding an organization's green intiatives conveyed through GHRM can promote sustainable development, and this can strengthen employees' feelings of psychological ownership.…”