Transmission of pro-environmental norms in large organizations

Workplaces are important settings in which to study pro-environmental behaviour, as they are responsible for a large amount of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. For pro-environmental norms to persist, they must be transmitted from person to person in some way. The research presented here examined the influence of workplace identification on the likelihood of a pro-environmental norm being intentionally transmitted to other people within the organisation. In addition, influence of local descriptive and local injunctive norms on pro-environmental norm transmission was investigated. Three case study organisations were studied: a large green energy provider, a public university, and a local government organisation. Results confirmed our hypothesis that intentional transmission of pro-environmental norms within the workplace setting was related to the individual level of organisational identification. The relative importance of the different predictors (local norms and workplace identification) was explored using regression trees and is discussed in relation to the different case studies