Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Green Behavior: Factors Influencing Behavioral Intention and Actual Environmental Behavior of Employees in the Financial Service Sector

Joachim Paul Hasebrook
* ORCID logo ,
Leonie Michalak
ORCID logo ,
Anna Wessels
,
Sabine Koenig
,
Stefan Spierling
,
Stefan Kirmsse
Version 1 : Received: 18 May 2022 / Approved: 19 May 2022 / Online: 19 May 2022 (11:39:40 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Hasebrook, J.P.; Michalak, L.; Wessels, A.; Koenig, S.; Spierling, S.; Kirmsse, S. Green Behavior: Factors Influencing Behavioral Intention and Actual Environmental Behavior of Employees in the Financial Service Sector. Sustainability 2022, 14, 10814. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710814 Hasebrook, J.P.; Michalak, L.; Wessels, A.; Koenig, S.; Spierling, S.; Kirmsse, S. Green Behavior: Factors Influencing Behavioral Intention and Actual Environmental Behavior of Employees in the Financial Service Sector. Sustainability 2022, 14, 10814. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710814

Abstract

The financial sector, too, is developing innovative services and products that have the potential to make a more positive impact on global environmental goals. However, research sheds little light on environmental attitudes and behavioral patterns of employees in this sector. There are multiple factors promoting or inhibiting environmental behavior. Those factors may be rooted in individual or subjective norms, but also social influence and to some extent financial incentives and benefits. A survey concerning the intention to improve and actually show ‘green behavior’ was developed based on widely used acceptance models which differentiate between desirable behavior and the intention to show such behavior. Employees are predominately responsive towards environmental behavior: 20% are convinced of the need to act in a “green” and sustainable manner, only 5% are hard to win over or are not accessible at all. Financial loss or benefits combined with social motives contribute to sustainable living whereas financial benefits alone actually hinder such behavior. The study underlines the existence of a intention-behavior gap: The intention to behave sustainably is built somewhat separately from various influences. There are moderating factors like sex, age and family status that influence the decisions. This then leads to a gap between intention and actual behavior.

Keywords

environmental behavior; financial industry; employee survey; behavioral acceptance; intention-behavior-gap

Subject

Social Sciences, Behavior Sciences

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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