Corporate environmental responsibility leads to more pro-environmental behavior at work by strengthening intrinsic pro-environmental motivation

Efforts to reduce the environmental impact of businesses have seen many organizations introduce corporate environmental responsibility (CER) goals and policies. Although previous research has demonstrated that the implementation of CER has successfully led to employees’ pro-environmental behavior, less clear is why and how CER adoption influences the pro-environmental behavior of employees in the workplace. Here we conduct three survey studies across five countries and we use cross-sectional and experimental research designs to examine a central hypothesis: employees may internalize their organization’s pro-environmental goals, and this may further encourage pro-environmental actions. Our results suggest that perceived CER is associated with more pro-environmental behavior at work through strengthening employees’ intrinsic pro-environmental motivation rather than through changing social norms. Our findings suggest that this may even be the case when CER is adopted for financial benefits. Our study reports an important mechanism through which organizations can reduce their own negative environmental impacts while also providing a solid base for consistent pro-environmental actions.