Ecocentric Management
Ecocentrism has grown in importance across the social (environmental) sciences, gaining traction in ecological economics, resource conservation, circular economy, sustainable entrepreneurship, and environmental ethics. At the core of ecocentrism is the idea that humanity is a subset of nature. Ecocentrism understands nature as a moral entity, with its own rights and value. It recognizes the inherent value of all life forms and ecosystems, irrespective of the utility they might have for humans. It thus rejects the conventional dualistic worldview, still prevalent in management practice, where humans and their activities remain separated from nature (
Washington & Maloney, 2020). Not surprisingly, literature on ecocentric management is relatively scarce.
In management research, advocates of ecocentrism have called for a reconsideration of the human–nature relationship in the management of the firm (e.g.,
Heikkurinen et al., 2016;
Shrivastava, 1995;
Wolff, 1998). Underlying this criticism is the need to move away from anthropogenic business-as-usual, because it seems to value other life forms insofar as they are valuable to human well-being and wealth creation (
Nordlund & Garvill, 2002;
Vlasov, 2019), which is commonly seen as the underlying cause of the current ecological crisis.
The transition from anthropo- to ecocentrism is seen as essential to regenerate and protect ecosystems. It entails going beyond environmental management (
Muñoz & Cohen, 2018), in terms of what the “environment–management” conjunction means in philosophical and practical terms. Philosophically, embracing ecocentrism requires adherence to biospheric egalitarianism. This means that, at the core of the business, there will be an equal recognition of the needs and rights of other species and ecosystems, and thus organizations have no superior value over nature. As such, one would expect to find ecocentric businesses demonstrating a coherent and respectful environmental behavior, constrained by the rights of nonhuman living beings (
Nordlund & Garvill, 2002). This includes other ecosystems and environments, wilder and more distant to us, beyond the common conception of what counts as nature (
Kortenkamp & Moore, 2001). Alongside the recognition of inherent value; ecosystem embeddedness and dependency are recognized as central premises in ecocentric management (
Whiteman & Cooper, 2000). Here, like individuals themselves, organizations are seen as a subset of larger and complex ecosystems (
Waddock & Kuenkel, 2020). Organizations depend on them for their activities and processes, and they are not the only source of intrinsic value (
Heikkurinen et al., 2016).
While conceptually appealing, these businesses and their practices seem to remain in the periphery, perceived as radical environmentalists trapped in the world of permaculture, biodynamics, biomimetics, holism, and so on. It is not surprising then that mainstream management research has largely neglected these ideas. Theory and practice seem to widely embrace ecological systems and the services they provide (
B. S. Thompson, 2018;
van den Belt & Blake, 2015), but a more pronounced publicly-expressed deep ecology position tends to be, at best, dismissed (
Kopnina 2012). This creates a triple problem in any attempt to examine ecocentrism in business sustainability research and management scholarship more broadly. First, business sustainability research still places humans needs and freedoms at the core of the debate, restricting our view and potential explanation of the phenomenon. Second, the phenomenon—outcomes and antecedents—might be more complex than previously thought. Third, we lack an appropriate conceptual apparatus to deal with complex explanations of biospheric egalitarianism in business management. This requires crossing disciplinary boundaries (
Shrivastava et al., 2013) and exploring a new approach in the delineation of outcomes and potential antecedents.
Reconsidering Outcomes: An Alternative View From Deep Ecology
Deep ecology is an ecological philosophy that emphasizes the inherent worth of living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and promotes the restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas. While seemingly disruptive, deep ecology does not seek a radical shift in fundamental values (
Glasser, 2011). It rather proposes a reevaluation of the understanding of human nature within the environmentalist movement. This, since much more was needed in terms of environmental protection and conservation (
Naess, 1973). In his seminal article,
Naess (1973) stressed that “ . . . ecologically responsible policies are concerned only in part with pollution and resource depletion. There are deeper concerns which touch upon principles of diversity, complexity, autonomy, decentralization, symbiosis, egalitarianism, and classlessness” (p. 95). Instead of focusing on the well-being of the individual organisms that an ecosystem contains, deep ecology values the ecosystem as a whole, which includes the well-being of its parts as well the properties of the ecosystem regarding biological diversity and ecological integrity (
Mikkelson & Chapman, 2014). As such, Naess’s ecological philosophy nurtured new ideas about humans and the natural world. His thoughts encouraged social dreaming on which an alternative ecological vision of the future was conceived (
Tyburski, 2008).
Naess’s ideas have regained prominence today facing climate change, as they offer a counter to current business approaches and ways of living, which are widely recognized as ecologically damaging (
Heikkurinen et al., 2016). However, embracing deep ecology in business management requires a rethinking of the economics of business and the logics underlying environmental management.
Borland and Lindgreen (2013) argue that the adoption of an ecocentric epistemology involves necessarily the development of an alternative business approach; one that brings natural ecosystems to the fore as the source of well-being for humans and other species, as well as the source of all products and services.
Clark and York (2005) go one step further to argue that a departure from “industrialization as usual” is central to the deep ecology agenda, which involves fundamental changes to the prevailing economic-centric view that conceives the natural environment as a reservoir of resources available for human exploitation.
In this vein, deep ecology offers an alternative worldview, contrary to “managing the environment.” In environmental management, nature is an external entity that can be manipulated and controlled for human benefit (
Booth, 2013). Since dualism is rejected in ecocentrism and deep ecology, there is nothing to be managed or controlled. Deep ecology sees interactions between people and the environment as co-constitutive, where each element influence the other, that is, where people and organizations are not the same without the environment, and the environment is not the same without people and organizations (
Booth, 2013). This lays the ground for ecological equality, which is both a central point of contention and a key principle of deep ecology (
Jacob, 1994;
Spash, 2013). A second principle (and point of contention) involves changes to the way modern human societies live, particularly concerning the current understanding of what human needs and rights are and allow humans to do. Advocates of deep ecology emphasize the need for moral restrictions aimed at rebalancing needs and rights between humans and nature. This requires limiting individual freedoms and protecting ecological rights and needs (
Grey, 1993). While radical, these principles of equal rights and changes to modern lifestyle can resolve the intractable environmental sustainability tension of either to “economize the ecology” or to “ecologize the economy” (
Clark & York, 2005;
Drengson, 1995;
Scerri, 2016).
Mapping Out Potential Antecedents
To answer our research question, we first need to explore and organize the range of possible conditions that can potentially explain ecocentrism in business management. Despite the theoretical relevance of deep ecology, its applicability to managerial practice remains problematic, lacking a cohesive framework to guide the identification and organization of antecedents. To address these issues, we leverage
Gosling and Case’s (2013) ecocentric framework and their ideas of social dreaming and future imagining. This, since ecocentrism involves individuals imagining alternative environmental futures and working toward paradigmatic changes. Facing the restrictions of modern rationalities, the authors propose these ideas as a new way of sensing, thinking, and talking about climate change. In their view, these ideas can trigger “non-anthropocentric sensibilities and organize responses to an impending crisis” (p. 705).
Gosling and Case (2013) articulate their arguments along three dimensions: (a) imagining climate change catastrophe, (b) new ethics and the role of dreaming–visioning, and (c) the collective seeing of the other side of the catastrophe. We organized our examination of potential antecedents leveraging these dimensions and derived three categories of antecedents, pertaining to sensing, envisioning and enacting, we label:
ecological crisis, ecological reform, and
ecological engagement. This represents a framework that can link different theoretical units into a coherent whole (
Muñoz et al., 2020), thus central to our typology development efforts. In
Figure 1, we provide a configurational framework showing elements and interdependencies.
1
Ecological crisis refers to people’s understanding of the causes and consequences of the ecological crisis, as well as reactions to it. There are two aspects to it. First, an awareness of our climate changing, which involves an appreciation of the degradation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity and also the potential shortages of critical resources (
Lewis & Maslin, 2015;
Molles, 2018;
Steffen et al., 2015). Second, expressions of concern as to what an ecological crisis means for people’s current and future well-being, as well as the effects of perceptions of threat.
Muñoz and Dimov (2017) argue that such perceptions influence business-related environmental action, as they increase moral commitment to act in the face the crisis, becoming drivers of proenvironmental thinking and action. In entrepreneurial contexts, both
Patzelt and Shepherd (2010) and
Hanohov and Baldacchino (2018) argue that entrepreneurs are more likely to discover sustainable development opportunities the greater their knowledge of the ecological crisis becomes, which is further augmented by perceptions of environmental threat and awareness of adverse consequences (
Eller et al., 2019).
Environmentally aware consumers also play a role, as they demand businesses to be more environmentally-conscious, prompting, in turn, the development of proenvironmental initiatives, further transparency and stronger links between environmental and financial performance (
Diehl et al., 2016;
González-Rodríguez & Díaz-Fernández, 2020;
Rahman & Hughes, 2020). These consumers are part of conscious consumer markets (
Cohen & Muñoz, 2017), who value a lifestyle of health and sustainability and are generally more aware of human–nature relationships (
Pícha & Navrátil, 2019).
Borlu and Glenna (2020) complement this argument by pointing toward the role of local partnerships, where environmentally aware organizations, producers, and communities work together to visualize what a sustainable future might look like and engage in concrete actions to tackle climate change locally.
Pressure from stakeholders, legislation, and environmental groups also encourage the development of greater environmental awareness. This has led business managers, particularly in small organizations, to gradually move toward an ecocentric perspective, changing their business processes and environmental strategies (
Gadenne et al., 2009).
Perron et al. (2006) argue that environmental concern and awareness are at the core of proenvironmental action in business contexts, which derive from organizations that sense, dream, and transform the climate crisis into new purposes and ideas. If this is grounded in a more critical view on growth and productivism, environmental action can move beyond and reform anthropocentrism (
Heikkurinen, Ruuska et al., 2019). This takes us to the next set of antecedents.
Ecological reform in ecocentrism involves the envisioning of philosophical and moral changes, propelled by a new environmental worldview (
Zelenski & Nisbet, 2012). In ecocentrism,
Tyburski (2008) argues, moral values represent a key driver regulating the relationships between humans and nature. Ethical principles and values, and a sense of environmental responsibility, are crucial for undertaking actions that lead to sustainability (
Bakos et al., 2019;
Tur-Porcar et al., 2018).
Nordlund and Garvill (2002) emphasize that environmental values and personal norms, combined with problem awareness (of ecological crisis), positively influence proenvironmental behavior. This combination is important since solving ecological dilemmas requires higher forms of moral reasoning (
Kortenkamp & Moore, 2001). In
Nordlund and Garvill’s (2002) view, people who give priority to collective or self-transcendent values are more willing to engage in different forms of altruistic, cooperative, or proenvironmental behavior than people who give priority to individual or self-enhancement values. In a different study,
Karpiak and Baril (2008) corroborated that indeed moral principles and values, central to ecocentrism, strongly predict respectful behavior.
Tezel and Giritli (2019) show that environmental values, beliefs, awareness, and proenvironmental behavior, all deeply integrated to the self, translate into workplace behavior and the individuals’ managerial thinking and decision-making.
Hay (2010) advances these ideas by connecting ecocentric philosophy to elements of personal development and transformational leadership, which involves the formation of an ecocentric worldview and a sense of ecological justice aiming at societal renewal (
Washington & Maloney, 2020). These are essential elements in the formation of an ecocentric identity (
Hay, 2010). This involves meaning creation through ecological imagination, which in turn fosters an ecocentric orientation and novel sustainability goals (
Payne, 2010).
Batavia et al. (2020) bring these elements together linking the strength of ecological envisioning and beliefs of inclusion to moral attitudes, intentions and proenvironmental behavior.
Envisioning is part of new environmental movements that promote lifestyle changes, particularly around consumption and (un)healthy living. Demands for deep reforms in lifestyle are signs of new ecological thinking that advocates in favor of a new ecological lifestyle of responsible consumption of locally sourced environmental products (
Cholette et al., 2013). More radical consumers tend to reject the materialistic and reductionist lifestyle promoted by markets (
Meissner, 2019) and consumption (
Harris & Dacin, 2019). Their ecological beliefs and consumption patterns shape new identities based on consciousness, stabilization, and sharing. Manifestations include organic consumption, transformative proenvironmental behaviors, promotion of ecological activism and a green identity (
Saraiva et al., 2020;
Van Huy et al., 2019). Lifestyle reform ultimately involves an impulse for change in our understanding of natural resources (
Sun et al., 2020), ageing in synch with nature (
Zheng & Yang, 2019) and a new ecological identity (
Longo et al., 2019;
Smith, 2019). They all embrace biospheric egalitarianism, anticonsumption and limits to growth, which are constitutive parts of ecocentrism and deep ecology.
Ecological engagement refers to actions for change, social support guiding actions, and perception of benefits linked to such actions, so that action is not merely symbolic and a nonconducive revolution. Engagement is strongly related to individual awareness of local ecological problems (
Cecconello & Koller, 2019), environmental attitudes and nature orientation (
Otto & Kaiser, 2014). Indeed,
Ernst et al. (2017) found that changes in the levels of environmental attitudes strongly predict concrete environmental actions. The latter involves decisive initiatives relating to e.g. environmental protection, environmental conservation and the adoption of ecological practices at organizational and industrial levels (
Yen & Yen, 2012;
B. Zhang et al., 2015), which can eventually mobilize structural changes in institutions and markets (
Hirst & Brown, 1990).
Good and Thorpe (2019) argue that such actions can strongly emerge from novel relations that mutually constitute organizational and natural phenomena, whereby organizations get entangled with nature (
Muñoz and Cohen, 2017). This in turn can improve the performance of individual organizations and entire industries via inter-organizational collaborations (
Kartadjumena & Rodgers, 2019). In this sense, individual engagement can have beneficial impacts at an aggregate level, particularly since it can guide long-term business objectives and influence social engagement (
Mitra & Gaur, 2020).
The relationship with social groups and norms can move in both directions. As individual engagement mobilizes collective action, social support also enables individuals to engage and act.
G. O’Neill et al. (2009), for example, argue that social context and culture are conducive to the creation of sustainable value in small firms. Likewise, consumption patterns and norms of conformity can affect the decision-making of small businesses toward engaging in environmentally responsible activities (
Meek et al., 2010).
Kornilaki and Font (2019) expand these ideas by arguing that sociocultural and industrial norms firmly influence environmental behaviors toward ecological engagement and ecocentrism.
Engagement through decisive initiatives and social support are thought to deliver benefits. Environmental actions significantly influence ecological performance, consumer perception and subsequent purchase intentions (
Li et al., 2017). Not surprisingly, evidence suggests that small businesses invest in environmental initiatives under the conviction that these can improve working conditions and compliance, and help redirect the business toward an ecocentric strategy (
Masurel, 2007). In their study of small manufacturing firms,
Andersén et al. (2020) found a strong relationship between green purchasing and growth, given the CEO’s environmental orientation.
Ren et al. (2020) also found a similar beneficial relationship. They show that CEO’s ethical leadership and environmental commitment have an impact on green human resource management, ecological engagement, and environmental performance. Likewise, green HR practices can reinforce the organization’s engagement to business strategy, green recruitment, and green training, having positive effects on sustainability (
Yong et al., 2020). The list of studies showing a positive relationship between environmental performance and economic performance is vast. There is an overall agreement on that environmentallyactive firms, who are proactive or have already engaged in environmental action, have found that environmental protection can be an important source of competitive advantage (
Lau et al., 2019).