The Roles of Supervisory Support Behaviors and Environmental Policy in Employee "Ecoinitiatives" at Leading-Edge European Companies

Assessed the relationships of environmental policy and supervisory support behaviors to employee environmental initiatives in leading-edge companies. The authors developed a behaviorally anchored rating scale instrument based on "learning organization" behaviors. In a survey conducted in European companies, 353 mid- and low-level employees used this scale to assess their supervisors' daily behaviors. The results were analyzed using logit econometric analysis and other statistical tools to determine which environmental policy factors and management support behaviors positively related to employee "ecoinitiatives." It was found that employees who perceived strong signals of organizational and supervisory encouragement were more likely to develop and implement creative ideas that positively affected the natural environment than employees who did not perceive such signals. Thus, organizational and supervisory factors had a positive relationship to employees' environmental innovations. Several areas for further research are recommended.