Habitually green: integrating the concept of habit into the design of pro-environmental interventions at the workplace

Abstract

In the course of sustainability strategies many enterprises and organisations have implemented measures to promote pro-environmental behaviours at work, including sustainable resource use. This task, however, often represents a challenge because many daily behaviours of the employees are based on habits and routines that are very difficult to change. This article discusses pro-environmental behavioural interventions in the corporate environment with a particular emphasis placed on habit formation. In reference to common behaviour change interventions and habit formation theory, we discuss how to enhance the design of behaviour change programs and support their implementation at the workplace in order to facilitate the process of habit-formation. The identified habit-enabling adjustments can be used to achieve a permanent reduction in the negative environmental impact of companies and thus become an integral part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental Management System (EMS) strategies. Gewohnheitsmäßig grün: Integration des Konzepts der Gewohnheit in die Gestaltung umweltorientierter Maßnahmen am ArbeitsplatzZusammenfassung Im Zuge umfassender Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien beinhalten Maßnahmenpakete von Unternehmen oftmals Schritte, um den schonenden Umgang mit Ressourcen im betrieblichen Alltag der Mitarbeiter und Mitarbeiterinnen zu fördern. Diese Zielsetzung stellt sich jedoch oftmals als Herausforderung dar, da viele Verhaltensweisen auf gefestigten Gewohnheiten basieren, die nur schwer zu ändern sind. Dieser Beitrag fokussiert das Thema der Gewohnheitsbildung bei betrieblichen Interventionen zur Förderung von umweltfreundlicherem Verhalten am Arbeitsplatz. Ausgehend von gängigen betrieblichen Maßnahmen und der Theorie zur Gewohnheitsbildung wird erörtert, wie betriebliche Maßnahmen so gestaltet und umgesetzt werden können, dass das gewünschte Verhalten sich möglichst zu einer Gewohnheit ausbildet. Die hier identifizierten Maßnahmenkonzepte können somit einen Beitrag leisten, die negativen Umweltwirkungen unternehmerischen Handelns nachhaltig zu reduzieren und als Bestandteil in Corporate Social Responsibility-und Umweltmanagementsystem-Strategien einfließen.

Culture-Based Green Workplace Practices as a Means of Conserving Energy and Other Natural Resources in the Manufacturing Sector

“…A total of 29.2% of the respondents were up to 25 years old, 35.7% were 26-35 years old, 24.2% were 36-50 years old, and 10.9% were over 50 years old. The following positions were represented among the respondents: top management 6.4% (13), middle management 28.6% (58), assistant 21.7% (44), specialist 14.3% (29), and other 29.1% (59).…”

“…Previous research on the factors influencing proenvironmental behavior in the workplace have included individual factors, such as employee's personal attitudes and norms [22,23], intraorganizational factors, such as implemented norms and their control [24], and environmental training of employees [25]. Furthermore, it has been emphasized that actions should be taken within the organization to help reinforce the results of the introduced resource-saving programs and initiatives through the developed green innovation strategy [26] sustainable innovation [27,28] and by changing daily habits in the workplace [29]. Employees' taking eco-logical actions at work can be supported or undermined by the organization's culture.…”

Entrepreneurial lean thinking for sustainable business modeling: a workshop design for incumbent firms

“…Further, having the right mindset within the company is a necessity to facilitate business model change. Scholars argue that formal and informal values, beliefs, and rules within businesses as well as long-established business metrics hinder the development and introduction of new business models (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund 2013;Evans et al 2017) and old habits and routines within the business are often difficult to change (Michalek et al 2019). Following an entrepreneurial lean mindset promotes experimentation and iterative processes, which are highly supportive for business model innovations (Chesbrough 2003(Chesbrough , 2010.…”

Mediating role of green culture and green commitment in implementing employee ecological behaviour

“…At the same time, the movement of vehicles within the campus consumes a high amount of fossil fuel energy, whose consumption also results in the emission of carbon dioxide. It has been proven to be challenging to encourage ecological behaviour at the workplace if members of the organisation are used to environmentally damaging habits (Michalek et al, 2019). Fortunately, a sustainable society is possible through the efforts of HEIs (Amaral et al, 2015;Anwar et al, 2020;Dagiliute et al, 2018;Rebelatto et al, 2019).…”