College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

Fall 11-19-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Alice Stuhlmacher, PhD

Second Advisor

Jane Halpert, PhD

Third Advisor

Shelly Rauvola, PhD

Abstract

Psychological research on climate change often focuses on driving adaptive individual behaviors in nonspecific contexts. Focusing on contexts where group-level behavior emerges (e.g., workplaces) is likely to yield insights that affect more significant numbers of people, in turn, having a greater impact on the natural environment. This study, therefore, explored the implications of a new operationalization of pro-environmental work climate, Organizational Climate for Environmental Action (OCEA). Participants (N = 393) responded to an online survey. Pro-environmental climate was positively associated with employee pro-environmental behaviors at work and organizational commitment over and above several work characteristics. Pro-environmental climate also fully mediated the association between ethical work climate and pro-environmental behaviors. These relationships did not depend on several candidate moderators, such as one’s beliefs about climate change. Partial support for the hypothesis that organizational commitment is maximized when beliefs about climate change and pro-environmental climate perceptions are aligned was found using response surface analysis (RSA) methodologies. The relationships between climate strength (i.e., the inverse standard deviation across an individual’s responses), climate level (i.e., the mean across an individual’s responses), and outcomes were explored using several novel analytical methodologies, revealing nonlinear and heteroscedastic patterns with implications for organizational climate research.

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