scholarly journals Why Employees Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviour: The Role of Pluralistic Ignorance in Chinese Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Hao-Fan Chumg ◽  
Jia-Wen Shi ◽  
Kai-Jun Sun

In light of the importance of sustainable development, this study aims to deepen and extend our understanding of employees’ pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace in a Chinese context. Drawing on the complex phenomenon of social norms theory concerning misperceptions (i.e., pluralistic ignorance) and supervisor–subordinate guanxi (which is a Chinese term signifying human connection), we present a novel model in which employees’ pro-environmental behaviour is the result of multiple social and individual psychological factors. Through the integration of previous literature from the fields of the psychology of individuals, social psychology, and environmental psychology, the major assumption is that the pro-environmental behaviour of employees is affected by their level of pluralistic ignorance, environmental concern, and subjective norms; these, in turn, are influenced by supervisor–subordinate guanxi and social identity in the collective spirit of Chinese society. Data, which were analysed empirically, were gathered from 548 Chinese employees from the Jiangsu province of China. This study consequently reveals the subtle interplay among employees’ pluralistic ignorance, supervisor–subordinate guanxi, social identity, subjective norms, environmental concern, and their pro-environmental behaviour, while the deeper analysis offers considerable support for environmental management research and practice.

2017 ◽  
Vol 126 (5B) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Nguyễn Thị Hằng Nga

<em>This research study focuses on factors which can affect purchasing behaviour of young customers with regard to organic food. Results from this study show that attitudes, perceived behavioral control, perceived consumer effectiveness and c</em><em>oncern for self-image positively impact purchasing behaviour of highly environmental concern consumers. With respect to slightly environmental concern consumers their puchasing behaviour is not exposed to attitudes, perceived behavioral control, perceived consumer effectiveness and concern for self-image. Subjective norms positively affect consumer behaviour, regardless of whether the consumer is highly environmental concern or not. However, the effect of subjective norms on purchasing behaviour of low environmental concern consumers is greater than that of consumers with high environmental concern.</em>


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan Xiao ◽  
Tienan Wang

A better understanding of users' continuance intention towards social networking services (SNSs) gives SNS providers greater insight to reducing turnover rate of their users. Drawing on social influence theory, this study develops a theoretical model to investigate users' continuance intention towards SNSs within the context of China. Specifically, this model examines how sociability and social overload mediate the impact of subjective norms, peer effects and social identity on continuance intention. Data of 286 Chinese university students were collected through an online questionnaire and analyzed by the partial least square method. Results reveal that although subjective norms have an insignificant impact on continuance intention, both peer effects and social identity positively impact continuance intention, and their impacts are partially mediated by sociability and social overload. The findings highlight the importance of peer effects and social identity, the positive role of sociability and the negative role of social overload in determining continuance intention.


1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 1743-1758 ◽  
Author(s):  
S E Eden

Individual environmental responsibility has been used by business and government in promoting public environmentalism through, for example, green consumerism, passive membership of environmental groups, and domestic recycling. Such responsibility has not yet been adequately addressed in academic work, although associated concepts of environmental concern, values, and behaviour have been studied in the last two decades. The author therefore looks at the role of environmental responsibility in public environmentalism and particularly at how this notion is articulated by individuals involved in a range of pro-environmental behaviours. Environmental responsibility is shown to be most significant where an individual believes in the efficacy of their pro-environmental behaviour and where the self is perceived to be a responsible agent compared with other social agents. The translation of this environmental responsibility into consistent behaviour proves to be complex and dependent upon the individual's social context as well as upon organised environmentalism.


Author(s):  
Émilie Perez

The role of children in Merovingian society has long been downplayed, and the study of their graves and bones has long been neglected. However, during the past fifteen years, archaeologists have shown growing interest in the place of children in Merovingian society. Nonetheless, this research has not been without challenges linked to the nature of the biological and material remains. Recent analysis of 315 children’s graves from four Merovingian cemeteries in northern Gaul (sixth to seventh centuries) allows us to understand the modalities of burial ritual for children. A new method for classifying children into social age groups shows that the type, quality, quantity, and diversity of grave goods were directly correlated with the age of the deceased. They increased from the age of eight and particularly around the time of puberty. This study discusses the role of age and gender in the construction and expression of social identity during childhood in the Merovingian period.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110194
Author(s):  
Sonia Roccas ◽  
Adi Amit ◽  
Shani Oppenheim-Weller ◽  
Osnat Hazan ◽  
Lilach Sagiv

We suggest that intentionality attributed to dissenting behavior in intergroup contexts (e.g., exposing one’s country’s secrets) may be conceptualized as benefitting one of four social circles. Two social circles exclude the perceiver: (a) the actor him/herself and (b) the outgroup affected by the behavior; and two circles include the perceiver: (c) the ingroup of both the perceiver and the actor and (d) humanity as the ultimate collective including both ingroup and outgroup. We further suggest that adopting different beneficiary attributions depends on the perceivers’ social identity complexity (Roccas & Brewer, 2002), which refers to an individual’s representation of their multiple social identities on a continuum from highly overlapping to highly differentiated (i.e., simple vs. complex social identity). Perceivers are more likely to attribute dissent behavior to social circles that exclude (rather than include) themselves the simpler their social identity; such exclusive attributions lead to harsher moral judgements, expressed as punitiveness.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 648
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Hewitt

In addition to formalized leadership roles within organizations, leadership can also influence members through informal channels. This work argues that multifamily residential buildings can be viewed as organizations and, as such, explores the influence that informal leaders can wield in shaping culture around the motivation for conserving energy. This work draws on qualitative fieldwork conducted in a Brooklyn cooperative building. Findings indicate that the study building benefitted from the leadership of a long-standing board member, which contributed to the implementation of a number of energy efficiency initiatives. Interestingly, this leadership also led to a culture of cost efficiency over environmental concern as the motivating force behind these initiatives. This narrative was well disseminated, with most residents reporting that the building does not have a culture of conservation, despite a strong energy efficiency leaning. Thus, this work posits that leadership can greatly shape perception and culture around energy but can also be leveraged to craft a more environmentally-motivated conservation culture. It also argues that leadership can be complementary to decentralized organizational structures, and that creative mechanisms in residential buildings can capitalize on both, allowing members at all levels of the organization more influence in shaping the building’s culture.


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