Individual Environmental Initiative: Championing Natural Environmental Issues in U.S. Business Organizations

"Presents a framework describing how 3 activities--identifying, packaging, and selling--can lead to successful environmental championing. The authors explain how individuals, as environmental champions, convince and enable organization members to turn environmental issues into successful corporate programs and innovations. A field study was conducted using survey and interview data from 132 self-selected environmental champions in US business organizations, comparing successful environmental championing episodes across a variety of organizations. The results of this study support the framework. Specifically, individuals who successfully championed environmental issues engaged in more environmental scanning, employed particular framing dimensions and presentation styles, and used several influence tactics. For some championing behaviors, successful outcomes depended on the strength of a company's environmental paradigm. A revised framework for championing natural environmental issues is offered to depict findings. "