Coping, hoping and acting: employees' individual ethics for climate change in the oil and gas industry

Abstract

Private companies in certain activity sectors are often called out for their practices, conveying questionable ethics, if not causing harm, be it at a societal or environmental level. The same companies employ thousands upon thousands of workers, who share an affiliation with their employer, while being members of the society where they witness or endure the consequences of these harmful activities. Contributing to a developing yet still limited literature considering individual moral agency and ethical construction within organisations, this thesis comprises three research papers investigating this problematic in the oil and gas industry, against the backdrop of the worsening of climate change and polarising debates around the extraction of fossil fuels. The title of this thesis, ‘Coping, Hoping and Acting’, reflects the respective angle of each of the three papers. The first explores the mechanisms employed by oil and gas industry employees to justify their being a part of this sector, and how these mechanisms perpetuate a neoliberal approach to corporate environmental ethics. The second identifies the dynamic processes of ethical formation employees go through and how these position them in relation to their organisations’ environmental discourses and practices. Finally, the third paper conceptualises the act of ‘crafting spaces in-between’ for the development of alternative futures, through studying the stories of people who straddle the boundary between the oil and gas industry and climate activism. These studies are built on accounts from and interviews with a population typically challenging to access, made up of current and former employees of the oil and gas industry. By giving voice to this often-overlooked population, this paper highlights the untapped potential which exists in creating space for all organisational actors, at all levels, to engage with environmental ethics. Moving beyond typical managerialist approaches opens new opportunities to envisage alternative paths towards sustainable futures