Greening businesses : a behavioural perspective

Abstract

In light of the rapid environmental degradation brought upon by classical economic and business models, policy-makers are seeking interventions to promote greener practises among households and firms. Despite the fact that pro-environmental motivation and norms are understood to be key determinants of behaviour in househeolds, the decisions of firms are thought to be solely driven by their bottom line, and management’s own moral sense of responsibility towards the environment receives little attention. This dissertation seeks to address this gap by juxtaposing findings from behavioural economics on social preferences and norms with the traditional economic model of firms as solely profit-driven to determine the extent to which green practices are driven by profits, policy and values. Data was gathered by an online survey sent out to Maltese businesses, and when empirical tested the model showed that the owner’s own moral sense of social responsibility towards the environmental has the most significant impact on the uptake of green practices within firms.