Employee Proactiveness to Engage in Sustainable Consumption Leading to Societal Benefits

Abstract

Our manuscript aims to advance our understanding of employee engagement in sustainable consumption through collaborative learning. Learning is one of the keys to sustain competitive advantage and to keep business fresh and relevant in a constantly evolving global business environment. Consequently, collaborative learning is a crucial skill that companies expect their prospective employees to demonstrate at work. In our study, we hold that collaborative learning will increase employee proactiveness to engage in sustainable consumption when moral identity is present. Moral identity refers to a moral state that is internal and projected to others and therefore consists of two dimensions: internalization and symbolisation. Moral identity along with collaborative learning and employee proactiveness to engage in sustainable consumption at a workplace leading to societal benefits (i.e., economic, social and psychological) in the housing, mobility and food consumption domain has not received much attention in academia. We theoretically investigate this phenomenon in the context of massively-multiplayer online video games and offer a conceptual model. In our study, we conceptually put forward propositions linking moral identity, engagement in sustainable consumption and societal benefits along with antecedents of collaborative learning: achievement, social presence, immersion and video game frequency. Based on our conceptual model, we provide implications for public policy makers and practitioners.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.30.1.17385