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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychosocial factors influencing the experience of sustainability professionals
AU - Andrews, Nadine
N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - PurposeThe study seeks to gain insight into psychosocial factors influencing sustainability professionals in their work to lead by influencing and improving pro-environmental decision-making in their organisations.ApproachUsing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as a framework, the study enquires into the lived experience of sustainability professionals and leaders from the UK and Canada. The primary data source is semi- structured interviews, analysed with frame and metaphor analysis.FindingsKey psychosocial factors involved in participants’ experience are identified, specifically psychological threat coping strategies, psychological needs, motivation and vitality, finding complex interactions between them. Tensions and trade-offs between competency, relatedness and autonomy needs and coping strategies such as suppression of negative emotion and ‘deep green’ identity are modelled in diagrams to show the dynamics. How these tensions are negotiated has implications for psychological wellbeing and effectiveness, as well as for pro-environmental cognition and behaviour.ImplicationsThe concepts and models presented in this paper may be of practical use to sustainability professionals, environmentalists and organisation leaders, for example in identifying interventions to develop inner resources, support authentic and effective action and disrupt maladaptive responses to ecological crisis.Originality/valueThe paper contributes insight to understanding of underlying processes shaping environmental cognition and behaviour, particularly in relation to psychological threat coping strategies and interacting factors. With a transdisciplinary approach, the methodology enables nuanced interpretation of complex phenomena to be generated, and addresses gaps in psychology and organisation studies sustainability research, with implications for the future study of sustainability leadership.
AB - PurposeThe study seeks to gain insight into psychosocial factors influencing sustainability professionals in their work to lead by influencing and improving pro-environmental decision-making in their organisations.ApproachUsing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as a framework, the study enquires into the lived experience of sustainability professionals and leaders from the UK and Canada. The primary data source is semi- structured interviews, analysed with frame and metaphor analysis.FindingsKey psychosocial factors involved in participants’ experience are identified, specifically psychological threat coping strategies, psychological needs, motivation and vitality, finding complex interactions between them. Tensions and trade-offs between competency, relatedness and autonomy needs and coping strategies such as suppression of negative emotion and ‘deep green’ identity are modelled in diagrams to show the dynamics. How these tensions are negotiated has implications for psychological wellbeing and effectiveness, as well as for pro-environmental cognition and behaviour.ImplicationsThe concepts and models presented in this paper may be of practical use to sustainability professionals, environmentalists and organisation leaders, for example in identifying interventions to develop inner resources, support authentic and effective action and disrupt maladaptive responses to ecological crisis.Originality/valueThe paper contributes insight to understanding of underlying processes shaping environmental cognition and behaviour, particularly in relation to psychological threat coping strategies and interacting factors. With a transdisciplinary approach, the methodology enables nuanced interpretation of complex phenomena to be generated, and addresses gaps in psychology and organisation studies sustainability research, with implications for the future study of sustainability leadership.
KW - Organisation
KW - Psychosocial
KW - Environmental
KW - Sustainability
KW - Coping
KW - Resilience
KW - Effectiveness
KW - Identity
KW - Emotion
KW - Values
KW - Motivation
KW - Cognition
U2 - 10.1108/SAMPJ-09-2015-0080
DO - 10.1108/SAMPJ-09-2015-0080
M3 - Journal article
VL - 8
SP - 445
EP - 469
JO - Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
JF - Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
IS - 4
ER -