Greening of organizational culture : Factors influencing the individual's environmental responsibility in a multinational organization – The case of KONE Corporation

Objective of the thesis This is an interdisciplinary study that combines theoretical elements from the field on sustainable management, social and organizational psychology, management and international business. Its aim is to carefully assess environmental organizational cultural change and, in particular, by looking at factors that influence an individual in an organization to act in a more environmentally responsible way. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify such influential factors that make individuals behave in a more environmentally responsible way in an organization. As the study has been conducted for a company, KONE, it looks at the behavioural change from the company perspective. It aims to give concrete recommendations on how to make the change of the mid-set, and accordingly, the behaviour of employees. Methodology and data collection The study was conducted as an empirical study embedded within a large multinational corporation with an extensive commitment to environmental responsibility. The methodology used was a large scale survey, and statistical techniques were employed to analyse and undertake inferences based on the data. The Survey questionnaire was built on KONE’s shared Internet database Sharepoint. Questionnaire had 18 questions with answer options formulated in a five-point Likert scale from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”. After the first 18 questions, background variables such as the gender, age class, KONE organization and country were asked from the respondents. In the end of the survey, one open question was added in case respondents desired to comment, suggest their own ideas or express their willingness to be interviewed on Environmental Excellence issues. The survey opened on the 4th of March 2009 and was closed on the 7th of April 2009. During this time 1386 responses were obtained. Main findings Literature suggested four likely factors (socialization to accepted and desired behaviour in the organization, example for desired behaviour given by a superior, facilities and tools that ease behavioural change and monetary or non-monetary incentives). However, the data from KONE indicated that two factors were sufficient to explain the variance in this complex construct. These are: influence of the organizational culture, which essentially combines the first initially suggested factors, and monetary or non-monetary incentives. Moreover, significant differences were observed across gender, age class, type of KONE organization and country: The data analysis revealed that women, the youngest age class, KONE production organization (KONE Supply Unit) and employees in China answered relatively more positively than other KONE employees to the survey. Whereas, men, the age class of 40 – 49, employees working for KONE global support organization (Global Units, Functions, Support Functions) and employees located in Australia answered relatively more negatively to the survey