Elisa Alt

Improving environmental performance through unit-level organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment: A capability perspective

Organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment (OCBEs) are increasingly advocated as a means of complementing formal practices in improving environmental performance. Adopting a capability perspective, we propose that a firms employee involvement capability translates into environmental performance through the manifestation of unit-level OCBEs, and that this relationship is amplified by a shared vision capability. In a cross-country and multi-industry sample of 170 firms, we find support for our hypotheses, shedding light on contextual determinants of OCBEs, and on how firms may engender a positive relationship between top-down environmental initiatives and bottom-up behaviors.

Selling Issues with Solutions: Igniting Social Intrapreneurship in For‐Profit Organizations

We offer an explanation of the issue selling process when issues deviate from the dominant logic of organizations. Our main objective is to articulate the multiple ways in which socially oriented innovations can be legitimated in for-profit organizations through the work of bottom-up change agents, also known as social intrapreneurs. To unpack this multiplicity, we draw on both institutional theory and the framing perspective in social movements. Specifically, we propose how sellers may advance social issues with solutions by drawing on the logic composite of both organizations and selling targets. By providing an account of the social issue selling process in for-profit organizations, we consider how the nature of an issue shapes selling efforts when it diverges from the dominant logic, and we shed light on how the content choices of sellers relate to the meaning systems of organizations and targets.

Enacting Social and Commercial Logics in Issue Selling

In this paper, we offer an explanation of the issue selling process when issues deviate from the dominant logic of organizations. Our main objective is to articulate how issue sellers can engage social and commercial logics in order to advance socially-oriented innovations in for-profit organizations. We advance our theoretical understanding of issue selling mechanisms by proposing how social issue sellers undertake diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing tasks, and how these tasks draw on the logic composite of organizations and selling targets. By explaining the process of selling social issues in for-profit organizations, we consider how the nature of an issue may complicate selling efforts when it diverges from the dominant logic, and we shed light on the contextually situated nature of issue selling.

Social intrapreneurship at Natura

Subject area Innovation and Intrapreneurship. Study level/applicability MSc, MBA and Executive Education Programmes. Case overview The case on Priscila Matta focuses on the role of social intrapreneurship and social inclusion at Natura, the largest cosmetics company in Brazil and a corporate responsibility leader. Centred in the complexity stemming from dealing with a local community which supplies key ingredients to the Ekos product line, the companys most prominent and innovative brand, it illustrates the difficulties of establishing inclusive forms of business with a traditional community in the northeast of Brazil. Ekos builds on the rich Brazilian biodiversity and traditional knowledge. Brazilian law requires Natura to share the benefits obtained from the access to genetic heritage and associated traditional knowledge with those communities who supply such resources. Implicitly, the case focuses on the role of the social intrapreneur – Priscila Matta – and how she navigated corporate politics to structure the companys community relations. The case demonstrates the difficulties of social intrapreneurs who aim to create sustainable innovations to execute shared value strategies. Expected learning outcomes The case has the following four learning objectives: to illustrate best practices in intrapreneurial activities that aim to create shared value – in this case, value for Natura and for the community; to define the role and characteristics of social intrapreneurs – people inside big corporations who drive sustainable innovation; to discuss obstacles the corporate environment presents in the process of social innovation; and to illustrate how individuals within companies can implement a shared value strategy. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Employees and Environmental Performance: The Role of Environmental Strategies and Shared Vision

Drawing on the natural-resource-based view, we propose that employee stakeholder integration is linked to environmental performance through firms’ proactive environmental strategies, and that this link is contingent on shared vision. We tested our model with a cross-country and multi-industry sample. In support of our theory, results revealed that firms’ proactive environmental strategies translated employee stakeholder integration into environmental performance. This relationship was pronounced for high levels of shared vision. Our findings demonstrate that shared vision represents a key condition for advancing the corporate greening agenda through proactive environmental strategies. We discuss implications for the CSR and environmental management literatures, with a particular focus on the natural-resource-based view and stakeholder integration debates.