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When and Why Perceived Organizational Environmental Support Fails to Work: From a Congruence Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2021

Yun Zhang ,
Zhe Zhang Open the ORCID record for Zhe Zhang [Opens in a new window]  and
Ming Jia
Yun Zhang
Affiliation:
Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
Zhe Zhang*
Affiliation:
Xi'an Jiaotong University, China
Ming Jia
Affiliation:
Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
*
Corresponding author: Zhe Zhang (zhangzhe220@sina.com)
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Abstract

Environmental responsibility has been increasingly emphasized in the management field. Perceived organizational environmental support is generally considered desirable within organizations. Nonetheless, both scholars and practitioners doubt that it is a panacea for enhancing employee green behavior (EGB), an important workplace behavior benefiting the environment and corporate sustainability. From a congruence perspective, this research explores when and why perceived organizational environmental support fails to increase EGB effectively. Drawing upon cue consistency theory and the corporate hypocrisy literature, we propose that perceived organizational environmental support backfires when it is incongruent with another critical cue signaling an organization's environmental stance – perceived supervisory environmental support (particularly when perceived organizational environmental support is higher than perceived supervisory environmental support). This is because the inconsistent signals of environmental support from the organization (in the form of policy commitment) and supervisor (in the form of supportive behaviors) arouse employees’ perception of corporate hypocrisy, which in turn inhibits EGB. Both the scenario experiment results (Study 1) and the polynomial regression results of the field survey data (Study 2) support our hypotheses. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

摘要

随着环境问题的不断加剧，企业环境伦理成为管理学领域的一个重要话题。由于员工的绿色环保行为对企业可持续发展和环境保护的重要作用，越来越多的企业通过制定环保政策提供组织环保支持，以期促进员工的绿色行为。然而在现实中，组织环保支持的效果却存在很大的差别，学者开始质疑组织环保支持是否是提高员工绿色行为的“万能药”。为了探索组织环保支持何时以及为何无法带来理想的结果，我们采用一致性的视角来研究组织环保支持和上级环保支持如何共同影响员工绿色行为。基于线索一致理论和企业伪善文献，我们假设组织环保支持（以企业环保政策承诺的形式）和上级环保支持（以主管环保支持行为的形式）这两个传达企业环保立场的重要线索之间的不一致会导致员工感知到企业伪善（尤其是当二者的不一致以高组织支持和低上级支持的方式出现时），从而事与愿违地降低员工绿色行为。我们采用了多种方法验证假设。研究一通过情境实验表明组织环保支持和上级环保支持水平越不一致，员工感知到的企业伪善越高，尤其是当不一致是以高组织支持和低上级支持的方式产生时。研究二通过问卷调研的方式进行，基于多项式回归的数据结果与研究一的结果一致；此外，研究二还表明感知企业伪善在组织环保支持-上级环保支持一致性和员工绿色行为之间起中介作用。我们进一步讨论了本研究对理论的贡献和对企业管理实践的启示。

Аннотация

Ответственность за охрану окружающей среды приобретает все большее значение в сфере управления. Положительное впечатление об организационной экологической деятельности, как правило, высоко ценится в организациях. Тем не менее, как ученые, так и практические специалисты сомневаются, что это является панацеей для улучшения экологического поведения сотрудников (ЭПС), важной модели поведения на рабочем месте, которое благоприятно влияет на окружающую среду и корпоративную устойчивость. С точки зрения конгруэнтности, это исследование изучает, когда и почему восприятие организационной деятельности по защите окружающей среды не способствует улучшению экологического поведения сотрудников (ЭПС). На основании теории согласованности сигналов и научной литературы о корпоративном лицемерии, мы предполагаем, что восприятие организационной деятельности по защите окружающей среды имеет обратный эффект, когда оно несовместимо с другим критически важным сигналом, который указывает на экологическую позицию организации – восприятие экологической деятельности со стороны руководства (особенно когда впечатление об экологической деятельности со стороны организации сильнее, чем впечатление об экологической деятельности со стороны руководства). Это связано с тем, что непоследовательные сигналы об экологической деятельности со стороны организации (в виде приверженности на стратегическом уровне) и со стороны руководства (в виде моделей поведения) вызывают у сотрудников чувство корпоративного лицемерия, которое, в свою очередь, препятствует экологическому поведению сотрудников (ЭПС). Как результаты сценарного моделирования (Работа 1), так и результаты параболической регрессии данных полевых исследований (Работа 2) подтверждают наши гипотезы. В статье обсуждается вклад в теоретические исследования, а также практическое значение для сферы управления.

Resumen

La responsabilidad ambiental ha venido siendo enfatizada en el campo de la gestión. El apoyo ambiental organizacional es generalmente considerado como deseable en las organizaciones. No obstante, tanto los académicos como los profesionales dudan que sea una panacea para mejorar el comportamiento ecológico de los empleados (EGB por sus iniciales en inglés), un comportamiento en el lugar de trabajo que beneficia el medio ambiente y la sostenibilidad corporativa. Desde una perspectiva de congruencia, esta investigación explora cuando y por qué el apoyo ambiental organizacional fracasa para aumentar efectivamente el comportamiento ecológico de los empleados. Aprovechando la teoría de la congruencia de las señales y la teoría de hipocresía corporativa, proponemos que el apoyo ambiental organizacional produce un efecto contraproducente cuando es incongruente con otra señal crítica que indica la postura ambiental de la organización -el apoyo ambiental percibido por los supervisores (particularmente cuando el apoyo ambiental organizacional es mayor que el apoyo ambiental percibido por los supervisores). Esto es debido a las señales inconsistentes de apoyo ambiental desde la organización (en la forma de compromiso político) y del supervisor (en la forma de comportamientos de apoyo) suscitan la percepción en los empleados de hipocresía corporativa, la cual, a su vez, inhibe el comportamiento ecológico de los empleados. Ambos resultados del experimento de escenarios (Estudio 1) y los resultados de la regresión polinómica de los datos de la encuesta de campo (Estudio 2) apoyan nuestra hipótesis. Las contribuciones teóricas y las implicaciones gerenciales son discutidas.

Keywords

congruencecue consistency theoryemployee green behaviorperceived corporate hypocrisyperceived organizational environmental supportperceived supervisory environmental support感知组织环保支持一致性感知上级环保支持员工绿色行为感知企业伪善线索一致理论конгруэнтностьтеория согласованности сигналовэкологическое поведение сотрудниковвосприятие корпоративного лицемериявосприятие экологической деятельности со стороны руководствавосприятие экологической деятельности со стороны организацииcongruenciateoría de consistencia de señalescomportamiento ecológico de los empleadosel apoyo ambiental percibido por los supervisoresapoyo ambiental organizacional
Type
Article
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 519 - 550
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The International Association for Chinese Management Research.

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Footnotes

ACCEPTED BY Senior Editor Runtian Jing

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