Der Einfluss von Decoupling im Kontext unternehmerischer Nachhaltigkeit auf Organisationsmitglieder

The decoupling of firm policies and practices has long attracted research attention (Meyer and Rowan 1977; Bromley and Powell 2012). In the context of corporate sustainability (CS), companies have increasingly introduced policies to mitigate their environmental impact. However, progress in reaching environmental targets recommended by environmental scientists and adopted in the Paris Agreement in 2015 is slow (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022). Emphasising companies’ roles in achieving these targets, the concept of decoupling has also been applied to CS (Graafland and Smid 2019). Research in this area predominantly focuses on the types and precursors to decoupling (Velte 2023). Its consequences have received much less attention. The limited insight on the consequences of decoupling focuses on financial outcomes of firm decoupling (ibid). This research aims to shift the focus towards less tangible outcomes. In particular, it turns to employees as a group of stakeholders that is important in two distinct ways. First, it is this group which is essential for implementing the policies directed at environmental protection and second, it is crucial for any organization in reaching primary organizational goals. This study thus intends to investigate the consequences of environmental decoupling for employees by asking more specifically how it affects organizational commitment.

To address this question, a model has been hypothesised based on a comprehensive review of extent literature and semi-structured interviews narrowing down potential consequences. Decoupling is hypothesised to reduce organizational commitment. Cynicism is expected to mediate this relationship. The relationship between cynicism and organizational commitment is expected to be moderated by how much individuals value the envrionment (Environmental Attitude).

Methode

A 3✕2 experiment serves to test the hypothesised model. Scenarios include three levels of decoupling (no, partial, full) manipulated as whether or not specific policies have been (fully) implemented in a fictitious firm. Scenarios also inform readers about why policies have not been implemented (internal vs. external justification). A questionnaire is then used to measure moderators (environmental attitude: Dunlap et al. 2000), the mediator (cynicism: MacLean et al. 2015) and the DV (organizational commitment: (Mowday et al. 1979; Porter et al. 1974). Constructs rely on validated scales. Scenarios were tested for credibility in 10 semi-structured interviews. The entire questionnaire underwent expert reviews (3), 2 interviews with potential respondents & a quantitative pre-test (n=19).

Ergebnisse

Data was analysed using Hayes PROCESS macro (Hayes 2022) model 8 for R version 4.3.1. The results show that low levels of decoupling entail higher levels of cynicism than no decoupling. Likewise high levels of decoupling lead to even higher levels of cynicism compared to scenarios where decoupling was absent. Cynicism in turn decreases organizational commitment thus supporting the hypothesised relationship that the negative impact of decoupling on organizational commitment Is mediated by cynicism. The analysis also provides partial support for the moderation of environmental attitudes: Thus, while the cynicism reactions towards decoupling were consistently higher compared between the no and low level of decoupling than comparing high to low levels of decoupling across all levels of EA, the contrast became sharper for higher levels of EA, suggesting that more environmentally friendly employees experience stronger cynical reactions to smaller discrepancies between the professed and realized environmental measures.

Literatur

Bromley, P., & Powell, W. W. (2012). From Smoke and Mirrors to Walking the Talk: Decoupling in the Contemporary World. The Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 483–530.

Dunlap, R. E., van Liere, K. D., Mertig, A. G., & Jones, R. E. (2000). New Trends in Measuring Environmental Attitudes: Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 425–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00176

Graafland, J., & Smid, H. (2019). Decoupling Among CSR Policies, Programs, and Impacts: An Empirical Study. Business and Society, 58(2), 231–267.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2022). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

MacLean, T. L., Litzky, B. E., & Holderness, D. K. (2015). When Organizations Don’t Walk Their Talk: A Cross-Level Examination of How Decoupling Formal Ethics Programs Affects Organizational Members. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(2), 351–368.

Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340–363.

Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14(2), 224–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(79)90072-1

Porter, L. W., Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., & Boulian, P. V. (1974). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 59(5), 603–609. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0037335

Velte, P. (2023). Determinants and consequences of corporate social responsibility decoupling—Status quo and limitations of recent empirical quantitative research. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2538

Steckbrief

Titel (deutsch):	Der Einfluss von Decoupling im Kontext unternehmerischer Nachhaltigkeit auf Organisationsmitglieder
Titel (englisch):	The effects of corporate sustainability decoupling on organizational members
Erhebungszeitraum:	11/2024–12/2024
Stichprobe (effektiv):	213
Stand der Informationen:	14.02.2025

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Katharina Hauptmann katharina.hauptmann@fernuni-hagen.de