Environmental sustainability and work-organizational psychology: perspectives and examples of practical contributions

Environmental sustainability (ES) has become an unavoidable challenging topic faced by organizations. It has been therefore stated that work and organizational psychology (WOP) should contribute in supporting firms’ environmental efforts (e. g. Campbell & Campbell, 2005; Ones & Dilchert, 2012; Dubois & Dubois, 2012). In this perspective, this study aims to identify and critically examine possible areas of research and practice for an environmentally oriented WOP. For this purpose, a large-scale systematic review of ES topic has been undertaken. Drawing on researches in psychology and other disciplines that have tackled the issue, a map encompassing the main areas of interest has been built. The map is presented on the basis of its possible applications for WOP field. Environmental management systems are specifically taken as examples and contexts of further exploration of the proposed framework. The results of this study inform the current debate about the role of WOP in addressing urgent questions that characterize present organizational contexts. In particular, the analysis of environmental management systems sheds light on the importance of organizational “soft” dimensions, beside the “hard” ones. Implications for further researches mainly concern the necessity of adopting multi-disciplinary and multilevel approaches when ES issues are dealt with.