Lancaster University Management School - 54 Degrees Issue 12

In our research, PGBs were depicted by employees as being beyond compliance to improve the existing situation by incorporating sustainability aspects into processes, products and policy. Employees perceived their actions as an opportunity to change ways of working. In supply chains, this could also involve developing ideas into green concepts after gathering information from suppliers, in fl uencing themand gaining collaboration. Employees have di ff erent perceptions around responsibility and the way they view their role towards sustainability implementation in both personal and organisational contexts. Some employeesmay view their rolemore broadly than others, and tend to rede fi ne their role to encapsulate new tasks and goals relating to sustainability. It is the absence of clear guidelines or leadership around which green behaviours are task- related and which are not that leaves ambiguity around how to incorporate environmental goals into decisions. It is obvious that sustainabilitymanagers are required to take environmental initiatives as a core part of their job, however other employees perceived their EGB responsibilities di ff erently, because they are not always explicitly included in job descriptions, nor are they the same for all roles. MORE RESPONSIBILITY EQUALS MORE PROACTIVITY Proactiveness increases as perceived responsibility increases, making employees give a higher priority to sustainability in their roles. If sustainability is part of the job and there is no ambiguity about whether it is voluntary or non-voluntary, then it is likely employees will more actively engage pro-actively compared to employees who are left to decide if they want to undertake green behaviours or not. In thesupplychaincontextwestudied, everyorganisationhasasustainability department that oftenworks in isolation tosupplychain. It is thesustainability department that isworriedaboutmeeting thesustainability targets, but the rest of thesupplychain is justworriedabout meeting thecustomer demandswhile makingeverythingcost-e ff ective– there is thegapbetweenpriorityandaction. If the topmanagement really believes that sustainability is something they want to prioritise and theymake it a clear priority, it can go a long way. It extends beyond the boundaries of the company. When employees talk to suppliers across the chain, if the company expects collaboration on these goals, then it extends the reach and becomes integrated within the supply chain. Some companies have global supply chains, some have local suppliers, but they can extend their in fl uence across their network. In our study, those employees who did not perceive that seriousmessage from the company and responsibility to act for sustainability, did not see it as part of their job and seldomengaged in EGBs. Themore an employee perceives the responsibility, the higher they prioritise these tasks and themore proactively they engage in EGBs, even taking their engagement beyond role expectations and spreading their in fl uence. Companies also bene fi t by creating a positive work culture , when employees have the opportunity to align their green values with that of the company. If companiesmake these behaviours mandatory for employees, then it sends themessage out that it is a priority for the company – that they are taking sustainability seriously, and this is not just corporate greenwashing . FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 37 Dr Savita Verma i s a Research Associate in theDepartment of Management Science and amember of th e PlasticPackaging inPeople’s Lives project examining shifting attitudes around plastic food packaging. Her research focuses on howpeople perceive sustainability and howattitudes a ff ect theirmotivation and behaviours, such as green and pro-environmental behaviour. AreWe Moving Beyond Voluntary EGB? Exploring the nature of EGBs in a SC context fromCase Studies , by Dr Savita Verma and Professor Chee YewWong, of Leeds University Business School, was presented at the 27th European Operations Management Association conference. savita.verma@lancaster.ac.uk PPiPL The Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives p roject focuses on how plastic food packaging is embedded within consumers’ day-to-day lives. As part of the project, we are looking at the plastic packaging landscape in the food industry, and exploring the perceptions and responses of organisations throughout the supply chain to consumer behaviours around food packaging. The project started this year, and what we have seen already is that there is a lot of impetus for collaboration to implement sustainable innovations. It is new for companies, and they are fi nding a lot of tensions from issues such as other countries banning the import of plasticwaste for recycling , and issues around the increasing demand for bio-plastics agains t their actual impact . Plastics can be slightly better if you compare themwith alternatives . Then there is the tension around foodwastage if we don’t use plastics. The desire for collaboration through the supply chain, and the seriousness with which the issue is being taken bodes well, and suggests that employees and managers will engage in the type of green behaviours needed for a positive outcome with support of their companies.