Protecting the environment for self-interested reasons. Altruism is not the only pathway to sustainability

Concerns for environmental issues are important drivers of sustainable and pro-environmental behaviors, and can be differentiated between those with a self-enhancing (egoistic) vs. self-transcendent (biospheric) psychological foundation. Yet to date, the dominant approach for promoting pro-environmental behavior has focused on highlighting the benefits to others or nature, rather than appealing to self-interest. Building on the Inclusion Model for Environmental Concern, we argue that egoistic and biospheric environmental concerns, respectively, conceptualized as self-interest and altruism, are hierarchically structured, such that altruism is inclusive of self-interest. Three studies show that self-interested individuals will behave more pro-environmentally when the behavior results in a personal benefit (but not when there is exclusively an environmental benefit), while altruistic individuals will engage in pro-environmental behaviors when there are environmental benefits, and critically, also when there are personal benefits. The reported findings have implications for programs and policies designed to promote pro-environmental behavior, and for social science research aimed at understanding human responses to a changing environmen

Optimal experience and optimal identity: a multinational study of the associations between flow and social identity

Eudaimonistic identity theory posits a link between activity and identity, where a selfdefining activity promotes the strength of a person's identity. An activity engaged in with high enjoyment, full involvement, and high concentration can facilitate the subjective experience of flow. In the present paper, we hypothesized in accordance with the theory of psychological selection that beyond the promotion of individual development and complexity at the personal level, the relationship between flow and identity at the social level is also positive through participation in self-defining activities. Three different samples (i.e., American, Chinese, and Spanish) filled in measures for flow and social identity, with reference to four previously self-reported activities, characterized by four different combinations of skills (low vs. high) and challenges (low vs. high). Findings indicated that flow was positively associated with social identity across each of the above samples, regardless of participants' gender and age. The results have implications for increasing social identity via participation in self-defining group activities that could facilitate flow

The restorative effect of the environment on organizational cynicism and work engagement

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between restorativeness, work engagement and organizational cynicism. A positive effect of restorativeness on work engagement and a negative effect on organizational cynicism are hypothesized. A self-report questionnaire was filled out by 247 employees. Results of hierarchical linear regression supported a positive effect of restorativeness in reducing both organizational cynicism and in fostering work engagement. The original contribution of this research is the analysis of the multivariate relationship between restorativeness (which is a relevant construct in environmental psychology) and relevant constructs deriving from the work and organizational psychology field (i.e., work engagement and cynicism in the workplace

Stakeholders mapping for sustainable biofuels:An innovative procedure based on computational text analysis and social network analysis

The identification and engagement of stakeholders is a challenge whose outcomes have a strong impact on a project’s success. This is even more relevant when the project concerns the introduction of sustainable technologies; these technologies are often less competitive on the market than traditional ones, both in terms of development complexity and production costs. This paper presents a stakeholder identification and mapping procedure, based on an Interest x Influence model, that emphasizes a quantitative methodological approach. The method has been applied on publicly available online data to identify and map potential stakeholders of a European research project aiming at creating a new biomass-derived biofuel. A semi-supervised procedure, built by combining computational text analysis and social network analysis techniques, has been used to calculate Interest and Influence scores for each potential stakeholder toward the project. The results show that stakeholders can be ranked on both dimensions and mapped on a bi-dimensional space according to their level of Interest and Influence. Within projects aiming at developing technologies for sustainability in which a wide range of stakeholders are involved at a transnational level, this stakeholder mapping technique provides a useful tool that can be adopted even with little knowledge on specific fields of application. A further asset of this approach lies in the possibility of profiling stakeholders on the basis of their Interest in the target project: this allows us to know the contents of a stakeholder (or stakeholders category) Interest, and therefore to have useful information for addressing the targeted stakeholder by means of a content design which is based on specific content categories, substantiating the stakeholder(s) Interest in the specific project.</p

Is it Really Nature That Restores People? A Comparison With Historical Sites With High Restorative Potential

Research on restorative environments has showed the healthy outcomes of nature experience, though often by comparing attractive natural to unattractive built environments. Some studies indeed showed the restorative value of artistic/historical settings. In a quasi-experimental study involving 125 participants in Rome, Italy, a natural and a built/historical environment, both scoring high in restorative properties, were evaluated in a natural, built/historical, or neutral setting. In accordance with the Biophilia hypothesis and the Attention Restoration Theory (ART), we hypothesized: a higher restorative potential of nature also when compared to built/historical environments; a moderation effect of on-site experience on perceived restorative potential (PRP) of both environmental typologies; higher levels of restorative properties of the environment for on-site vs. not on-site respondents; and a mediation effect of the restorative properties of the environment in the relationship between time spent on-site and PRP. Results supported the hypotheses. In addition, different psychological processes leading to restoration emerged for the natural and the built/historical environment. Theoretical implications for ART and practical applications for an integrative urban design with natural and historical elements are discussed

Perceived organizational support and work engagement: the role of psychosocial variables

PurposeThis study aims to test the role that organizational sociopsychological variables may play in influencing job stress and work engagement in an organizational identity change scenario.Design/methodology/approachOn a sample of 118 employees of an Italian company in the personnel training services sector, multivariate statistical analysis tests a pattern where organizational variables such as work support (by supervisors and coworkers, independent variables) – moderated by corporate identification (moderating variable) – and mediated by organizational trust (mediating variable) – boosts employee work engagement and lowers psychosocial risks (dependent variables).FindingsThe mediating effect of "organizational trust" is significant in the relationships of "supervisor social support" and "coworker social support" with the "absence of psychosocial risks." Moreover, an increase in supervisor social support can lead to a statistically significant increase in work engagement. This occurs only for employees with low or medium identification and not in highly identified individuals.Originality/valueThe findings from the analysis on moderation are of primary importance because they show us a new perspective that can play the role of a guiding and practical principle on how to act on an organization's human resources, specifically targeting those with lower or medium corporate identification

Communicating corporate social responsibility to involve stakeholders. The case of employer branding for university students

La responsabilità sociale d'impresa (o Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR) è uno strumento efficace di marketing e la sua efficacia è mediata dalla modalità con cui le aziende comunicano le proprie attività di CSR agli stakeholder. La ricerca si propone di valutare l'effetto di cinque strategie di comunicazione della CSR, ordinate secondo un livello crescente di coinvolgimento degli stakeholder, sull'Employer Branding (EB) di un'azienda ipotetica. Attraverso la distribuzione di cinque varianti di un opuscolo, l’azienda è stata presentata a due campioni di studenti universitari (n=167; n=112) in cinque diversi scenari comunicativi della CSR. È stato somministrato un questionario con scale che misurano l’attrattività dell'azienda, il prestigio percepito dell'azienda, la disponibilità dei soggetti a entrare in contatto con l'azienda e l’impegno prospettico sul lavoro. È stata anche indagata la percezione della brand personality e della comunicazione della CSR. Le analisi confermano che tutti e cinque gli scenari sono caratterizzati da alti livelli delle dimensioni dell’EB, però lo specifico dialogo di CSR adottato può generare differenti percezioni della brand personality dell'azienda.Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) is an effective marketing lever, and its effectiveness is mediated by the strategies companies use to communicate their CRS activities to stakeholders. The present research aims at assessing the effect of five CSR communicative strategies, ranked according to an increasing involvement level of stakeholders, on a fictional company’s Employer Branding (EB). The company was presented to two samples of university students (n=167; n=112) via the administration of five different versions of a brochure, corresponding to five different communicative scenarios of CSR. A self-report questionnaire was administrated, with scales measuring the company’s attractiveness, perceived prestige, intention to contact the company, and prospective engagement, as well as the company’s perceived brand personality and CSR communication. Analyses report high levels of the EB dimensions in all five communicative scenarios, which however produce different perceptions of the company’s brand personality

Visitors’ satisfaction and perceived affective qualities towards museums: the impact of recreational areas

Questo studio indaga il ruolo svolto dai fattori ambientali sulla valutazione di una visita al museo da parte degli utenti. È stata condotta un’indagine empirica per rilevare la soddisfazione dei visitatori e la valutazione dell'esperienza museale, con un'attenzione particolare alle aree ricreative (negozio di souvenir e ristorante/bar). Un campione di 160 visitatori di due musei di Roma (50% italiani e 50% madrelingua inglese) ha completato un questionario comprendente scale sulle qualità affettive dei luoghi (Russell &amp; Pratt, 1980), sulla soddisfazione e sulle motivazioni della visita. I risultati hanno mostrato che le aree ricreative, in particolare il negozio di souvenir, facilitano la creazione di una relazione positiva tra il visitatore e l'ambiente museale. La valutazione degli utenti è stata anche associata a differenze linguistiche e relative alle motivazioni alla base della visita.This study investigates the role played by environmental factors on users’ evaluation of a museum visit. An empirical research was carried out to detect visitors’ satisfaction and assessment of museum experience, with a special focus onto its recreational areas (i.e., gift shop and restaurant/cafeteria). A sample of 160 visitors of two museums of Rome (50% Italians and 50% English mother tongue) completed a questionnaire including scales on affective qualities of places (Russell &amp; Pratt, 1980), satisfaction towards the visit, and motives for the visit. Results showed the relevance of recreational areas, especially the gift shop, in facilitating the creation of a positive relationship between the visitor and the museum environment. Users’ assessment was also associated to differences in visitors’ mother tongue, age, educational level and motives underlying the visit

Residential Place Attachment as an Adaptive Strategy for Coping With the Reduction of Spatial Abilities in Old Age

This study intended to test whether attachment to one\u2019s own residential place at neighborhood level could represent a coping response for the elderly (consistently with the \u201cdocility hypothesis;\u201d Lawton, 1982), when dealing with the demands of unfamiliar environments, in order to balance their reduction of spatial abilities. Specifically, a sequential path was tested, in which neighborhood attachment was expected to play a buffer role between lowered spatial competence and neighborhood satisfaction. The participants (N D 264), senior citizens (over 65-year-old), responded to a questionnaire including the measures of spatial self-efficacy, spatial anxiety, attitude toward wayfinding, residential attachment and residential satisfaction. Results from the mediation analysis showed that a lower perceived spatial self-efficacy is associated to a higher spatial anxiety, and both promote a more negative attitude toward wayfinding tasks in non-familiar places. This leads to a higher attachment to one\u2019s own neighborhood, which in turn predicts a higher residential satisfaction. Thus, the \u201cclosure\u201d response of becoming more attached to their residential place may be an adaptive strategy of the elderly for compensating the Person-Environment (P-E) mis-fit (Lawton and Nahemow, 1973) when they feel unable (or less able) to cope with the demands of unfamiliar environments

Residential Place Attachment as an Adaptive Strategy for Coping With the Reduction of Spatial Abilities in Old Age

This study intended to test whether attachment to one’s own residential place at neighborhood level could represent a coping response for the elderly (consistently with the “docility hypothesis;” Lawton, 1982), when dealing with the demands of unfamiliar environments, in order to balance their reduction of spatial abilities. Specifically, a sequential path was tested, in which neighborhood attachment was expected to play a buffer role between lowered spatial competence and neighborhood satisfaction. The participants (N = 264), senior citizens (over 65-year-old), responded to a questionnaire including the measures of spatial self-efficacy, spatial anxiety, attitude toward wayfinding, residential attachment and residential satisfaction. Results from the mediation analysis showed that a lower perceived spatial self-efficacy is associated to a higher spatial anxiety, and both promote a more negative attitude toward wayfinding tasks in non-familiar places. This leads to a higher attachment to one’s own neighborhood, which in turn predicts a higher residential satisfaction. Thus, the “closure” response of becoming more attached to their residential place may be an adaptive strategy of the elderly for compensating the Person-Environment (P-E) mis-fit (Lawton and Nahemow, 1973) when they feel unable (or less able) to cope with the demands of unfamiliar environments