Connecting with own emotions to connect with the environment: an intervention for promoting pro-environmental behaviors in organizational settings

Abstract Introduction: Numerous studies have highlighted the difficulties found in interventions aimed at promoting greater pro-environmental behaviors in the long term. While cross-sectional literature has emphasized the essential role of certain emotional factors in promoting pro-environmental behaviors (such as empathy, connection to nature, emotional regulation), interventions in the literature focus on contextual factors, informational or feedback interventions. The present study aimed to test the effectiveness of interventions designed instead to increase emotional connection to the natural environment in order to promote greater pro-environment behaviors. Methods: N = 90 firm managers were involved in 6 different intervention groups. The interventions were carried out on the managers of the firms, but change was measured not only on the managers but also on the team members working in direct contact with them (N = 500 firm employees), hypothesizing that a change at the emotional/relational level would produce a stable change in behavior that can trigger cascading changes even in team members in close contact with the leader. Pro-environmental behaviors, pro-environmental attitudes, connection to nature, empathy, emotional regulation, and self-compassion were measured before and after the interventions. Results: Results showed the greater effectiveness of change in interventions aimed at greater emotional connection with nature, compared with informational interventions and the control group. The change was found not only on firm managers, but also on their team members. Discussion: The results highlight the cost-effectiveness of an intervention that enables behavioral change in a large sample (team members), direct involving a small sample of firm managers.