Drivers and barriers to low-carbon practices in the workplace: individual and organizational factors

In this paper we will present the results of a qualitative study, carried out with the aim of assessing the existing everyday practices and behaviours in the workplace, which have an impact on the level of greenhouse gas emissions, in a large Italian company in the energy production sector. The environmentally-relevant everyday practices in the organizations referred to three main categories of organizational practices: 1) Consumption of materials and energy; 2) Waste generation and management; 3) Organization-related mobility. Three different sources of data and information were used: a) Interviews with key-informers situated at different levels of decision-making; b) Focus Groups; c) Analysis of organizational documents. All the material gathered was subject to thematic content analysis procedures, using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS), specifically the ATLAS.ti software. Results from the three data sets converge in showing the presence of main barriers (e.g.: ‘Time is a barrier for sustainable mobility’; ‘There is no automatic switch off of lights at work’) and drivers (e.g.: ‘People save energy at home to save money’; ‘The organization encourages policies of consumptions reduction’) at both the individual and organizational levels. These identified factors are incorporated into a theoretical model, predicting sustainable individual and collective practices in the workplace. This model will be subsequently tested in a quantitative study, conducted through standardized psychometric tools. The implications of the findings for more sustainable working environment and practices will be discussed.