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Friday, March 29, 2024

Corporate sustainability projects and employee engagement

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“What makes employees engage more into the outreach programs, sustainability projects, or corporate social initiatives of the organization?” This is the question every manager deals with from time to time, in this age where organizations are expected to behave in a socially responsible way by protecting the environment, helping solve social problems in the community, or doing business ethically. Answering this question is important since it is the driving force of the employees that can make corporation sustainability projects thrive.

One of the companies that have been successful in managing employee engagement is IBM. The company’s tradition of volunteerism is as old the company itself when, in the late 1910s, its first CEO Thomas J. Watson Sr., challenged his employees to share their time and talents with their communities. At that moment, the culture of community service in IBM was born. IBM’s eighth CEO Sam Palmisano further stated that “No company can mandate volunteerism. The decision and self-sacrifice come from within the individual. What we can do is encourage and support this distinctive aspect of our culture by providing education, technology, funding, and recognition to tens of thousands of IBM colleagues who enrich their communities with their expertise and caring.”

I looked into many models in the literature that explained why these organizations are successful in engaging their employees in their sustainability projects. Specifically, I used the employee perspective approach and examined what personal values and characteristics of employees explain their propensity to volunteer, commit, involve or engage into the organization’s environmental projects. I initially guessed that one of the factors that explain employee engagement is their “pro-environment self-identity.” However, it turned out that it was their “pro-environment social identity” that predicts engagement. Social identity is an individual’s sense of who they are based on their group membership. In this case, employees who would want to identify themselves, along with their colleagues, a member of an environmental-conscious-group in the organization are more likely to engage in environmental activities.

Why is this important when, in fact, many would say this result is not surprising at all? In fact, social identity theory was first introduced by two British social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner in 1979. However, while the link of social identity and motivation has been around for some time in Psychology, this link has been barely explored incorporate sustainability and employee engagement, if it has been explored at all.

To reiterate, the research findings showed only their (the employees) “pro-environmental social identity” but not their overall “pro-environmental self-identity” affectstheir engagement. This result brings us to new possibilities and insights. Providing the employees with the time to go out and do the work, the required resources, and autonomy are one of the ways that work in motivating them to engage. Additionally, providing them something that can boost their pro-environmental social identity is something that might be new in the table. 

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Most of the time, managers communicate the importance of volunteerism as a personal and professional development just as what IBM’s first CEO did. Building on my research findings, it was not the individual kindle that created the culture of volunteerism in IBM. It was their social identity tag as part of the IBM organization whose purpose in this world is not only to work but also to extend their expertise outside. It might be that the encouraging words of Thomas J. Watson Sr. ignited them, but their collectiveness kept that fire burning for many decades.

The case of IBM might be considered ideal; for instance, its success in creating social identity could be attributed to the fact the company might have employed like-minded people in the first place. For managers who have to work on a daily basis with employees with diverse backgrounds and interests, it is surely a challenging task to create that unifying social identity.

Ringgold P. Atienza is pursuing his Doctor of Philosophy in Business at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University. He is also an Assistant Professor of the College of Business and Management, Misamis University. As a scholar, his research interests include personal finance, entrepreneurship, management and sustainability. You can reach him at ringgold_atienza@dlsu.edu.ph. The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty and its administrators.

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