The impact of individual motivation on employee voluntary pro-environmental behaviours: the motivation towards the environment of Polish employees

Environmental management researchers stress the need to study the determinants of employee pro-environmental behaviour in different cultural settings. This study focusses on employee voluntary pro-environmental behaviours in Poland. It aims (1) to examine the scope of employee green behaviours in the private and public sphere and (2) to explore the relationship between individual motivation and pro-environmental behaviours.

Self-administered questionnaire was used for collecting data from 325 Polish employees. A structural equation modelling was applied to estimate the effects of individual motivation on pro-environmental behaviours in both private and public sphere. The psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale based on self-determination theory were checked beforehand.

Polish employees mainly engage in private-sphere pro-environmental behaviours. The engagement of employees in green behaviours is driven by autonomous motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a more important driver in the case of private-sphere pro-environmental behaviours; integrated regulation in the public sphere. The relationship between controlled motivation and employee pro-environmental behaviours in both spheres is unclear.

As the data were gathered amongst Polish employees, the proposed model may be applied in culture-specific conditions in Poland.

This paper explores the extent to which individual motivation may foster pro-environmental behaviour of employees. Moreover, it offers the validation of the Polish version of the Motivation Toward the Environment Scale.