a summary of an article about "Organizational Citizenship Behaviors for the Environment" by Elisa Alt and Heiko Spitzeck

1. Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors for the Environment
(OCBEs)
NARGES NASIRI

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Title and authors of the paper
• Title:
Improving environmental
performance through unit-level
organizational citizenship
behaviors for the environment:
A capability perspective
• Authors:
Elisa Alt, Heiko Spitzeck

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

6. 6Organizational
Citizenship
Behavior
In industrial and organizational,
organizational citizenship behavior
(OCB) is a person's voluntary
commitment within an organization or
company that is not part of his or her
contractual tasks.

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Organizational Citizenship
Behavior

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Pro-environmental
or green behavior:
Pro-environmental or green behavior is behavior that
minimizes harm to the environment as much as
possible, or even benefits it (Steg & Vlek, 2009).
Examples include minimizing energy use, and
reducing waste.

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Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors for the Environment
• individual and discretionary social
behaviors not explicitly recognized
by the formal reward system and
contributing to improve the
effectiveness of environmental
management of organizations

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Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors for the Environment
• relatively little research has looked at the contextual factors that
enable the manifestation of OCBEs at the unit level.
• This is important because without an appropriate understanding of the
contextual determinants of OCBEs, managers may overlook invaluable
opportunities to enhance firms' environmental performance, which
may tap into employees' tacit knowledge and reap the benefits of
their involvement beyond formal management systems.

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Employee involvement
capability
One way by which
managers endeavor to
engage their workforces in
corporate greening efforts
is by developing a capability
of integrating information
conveyed by employees into
the development of
environmental practices,
which we define as
employee involvement
capability.

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Employee involvement
capability
Although this employee involvement
capability may improve
environmental performance
through formal environmental
practices, current research
suggests that informal and
voluntary green behaviors of
employees, such as OCBEs, may
also act as alternative mechanisms.

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The purpose of this paper is to theorize and test the relationships
between a firms' employee involvement capability, the manifestation of
OCBEs at the unit-level, and environmental performance.
purpose of this paper

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• In particular, we are interested in understanding
contextual factors that may reinforce both
• formal (i.e., employee involvement capability)
and
• informal (i.e., OCBEs)
aspects of corporate greening.
Employee involvement
capability

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Theory Development
The contribution of
employee involvement to
corporate greening has
been addressed mainly
through three different
perspectives in the
Organizations and the
Natural Environment
(ONE) literature.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
From an operations management
perspective, employee
involvement has been related to
energy and natural resources
conservation, reduction in toxic
releases, green design, cleaner
technology, cost savings and
environmental benefits in general.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
Through the lenses of the natural-resource-based view (NRBV) of the firm, employees are key
stakeholders and their involvement is seen as a strategic capability:
firms that develop the ability of integrating employees have been linked to more advanced
environmental practices.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
Finally, from a behavioral perspective, employees'
tacit knowledge and informal behaviors have been
associated with significant environmental
improvements, such as the identification of pollution
sources and the management of emergency situations.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
In this paper, we focus on the two latter perspectives
in order to provide a more encompassing view of
employee involvement in corporate greening, which
considers the relationships between formal and
informal green behaviors.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision
natural-resource-based view (NRBV)
behavioral perspective

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Theory Development
Employee involvement, unit-level
OCBEs, and environmental
Performance
•Hypothesis 1. A firm’s employee
involvement capability will be positively
associated with the manifestation of
organizational citizenship behaviors for
the environment at the unit level.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision
Paille and Mejía-Morelos

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Theory Development
Employee involvement, unit-level
OCBEs, and environmental
Performance
•Hypothesis 2. The manifestation of
organizational citizenship behaviors for
the environment at the unit level will be
positively associated with a firm’s
environmental performance.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision
Podsakoff and MacKenzie

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Theory Development
Employee involvement, unit-level
OCBEs, and environmental
Performance
•Hypothesis 3. The manifestation of
organizational citizenship behaviors for
the environment at the unit level will
mediate the relationship between a
firm’s employee involvement capability
and environmental performance.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
The role of shared vision
shared vision : is defined as the capability of
ensuring that “the firm's objectives are
important and appropriate and that all of its
members may contribute to defining them”
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
The role of shared vision
We suggest that shared vision, may act as a
boundary condition on the predicted
relationship between employee involvement
capability and unit-level OCBEs.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
The role of shared vision
We argue, that the existence of an employee
involvement capability is a necessary but not
sufficient condition for enabling the occurrence
of unit-level OCBEs that lead to better
environmental performance.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
Organizations with high levels of shared vision might
be more effective at embedding employee green
behaviors into their culture
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
At the group level, for example, Kim et al. (2014)
demonstrated that a process similar to shared
vision influenced the occurrence of employee
green behaviors, creating a pro-environmental
ambiance shaped by open discussions, sharing
of relevant knowledge, and communication of
various viewpoints on environmental aspects.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
Likewise, at the unit level, a shared vision
capability can ensure clear communication of
environmental policies and objectives, and that
the commitment of the organization to the
natural environment (evidenced through an employee
involvement capability) is substantive rather than
symbolic
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
Leana and Van Buren:
“if individuals believe that their efforts are an
integral part of a collective, they are more likely to
spend time doing things the organization and/or its
members find useful”
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
Hypothesis 4a. The greater a firm's shared
vision, the stronger the positive effect between an
employee involvement capability and the
manifestation of unit-level organizational
citizenship behaviors for the environment.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Theory Development
Hypothesis 4b. Shared vision will moderate the
positive and indirect effect of an employee
involvement capability on a firm’s environmental
performance (through unit-level organizational
citizenship behaviors for the environment).
Specifically, unit-level organizational citizenship
behaviors for the environment will mediate the
indirect effect when shared vision levels are high
but not when they are low.
Theory Development
Employee involvement, …
The role of shared vision

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Methods
We tested our hypothesis in a cross-country and
cross-industry setting through an online survey,
targeting one key informant per business unit.
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures

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Methods
In particular, we chose to contact
managers in the areas of
sustainability, corporate social
responsibility (CSR), and
environmental management for
two reasons.
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures

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Methods
First, because individuals in these positions are
involved in initiatives to improve environmental
performance and to promote pro-environmental
behaviors in the workplace. Methods
Data And Sample
Measures

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Methods
Second, these positions
often call for a great level
of cross-functional
integration, thereby
allowing managers to
observe how the different
areas of their business
units contribute to
corporate greening.
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures

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Methods
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures

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3.2.1. Employee involvement capability
We measured firms' employee involvement
capability by using Sharma and Henriques
(2005) scale.
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures
Methods

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3.2.2. Unit-level OCBEs
As OCBE measures were not available at the
time of data collection, we adapted items from
established and validated scales when available,
following procedures outlined in Podsakoff et al.
(1990), and the rationale proposed by Boiral
(2009).
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures
Methods

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3.2.3. Environmental performance
Environmental performance was measured with a
scale from Hubbard (2009) Organizational
Sustainability Performance Index.
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures
Methods

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3.2.4. Shared vision
We assessed shared vision by using Arag_on-
Correa et al. (2008) Scale. Methods
Data And Sample
Measures
Methods

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3.2.5. Control variables
Financially successful firms are more likely to
invest in environmental management initiatives
that lead to better environmental performance
(Ambec and Lanoie, 2008; Bansal, 2005).
Hence, we controlled for financial performance
using Judge and Douglas (1998) scale.
Methods
Data And Sample
Measures
Methods

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Discussion
Our main objective in this paper was to theorize and test the
relationships between a firms' employee involvement capability, the
manifestation of OCBEs at the unit-level, and environmental
performance.
Our findings demonstrate that a firm's employee involvement
capability translates into environmental performance through the
manifestation of unit-level OCBEs, and that this relationship is
magnified in the presence of a shared vision capability.

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