Professional identity as an unexplored motivator for sustainable practices

Baden, Denise (2017) Professional identity as an unexplored motivator for sustainable practices. 6th International Conference on Social Responsibility, Ethics and Sustainable Business, , Berlin, Germany. 28 - 29 Sep 2017.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The question of what motivates sustainable practice is a crucial one and a variety of psychological models of behaviour and motivation have been proposed. We present a study that targets hairdressers, trainers and trainees via a series of workshops on sustainable haircare practices, with a specific focus on exploring the motivators for sustainable practice within small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Our studies revealed an unexpected and under-researched motivator for sustainable practice which was the desire to be seen as a professional.

Our post-workshop survey (N = 798) indicates that the best motivator overall was cost-savings followed by reputation and a desire to adopt professional standards. However, the most useful knowledge is what motivates those who are not already eco-minded. When we ran the analysis just using those who did not already have sustainable values we found that desire to adopt professional standards was now the most important motivator.

Although self-identity has been highlighted as one of the motivating factors underlying sustainable behaviours, the role of professional identity has received scant attention. Our results suggest this might be a fruitful area for further research

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