Toward Organizational Environmental Virtuousness

Abstract

This article combines theories of environmental virtue ethics and organizational virtuousness in proposing the idea of “organizational environmental virtuousness.” In doing so it draws attention to the fact that previous “green management” scholarship has emphasized reduction of harm and adherence to norms and overlooked the significance of positive deviance, virtue, and virtuousness. In common with organizational virtuousness, organizational environmental virtuousness is associated with moral goodness, human impact, and unconditional social betterment. Amplifying and buffering effects of organizational environmental virtuousness support positive deviance and environmentally supportive behaviors and constrain negative deviance and environmentally antagonistic behaviors, respectively. The article concludes with a consideration of the implications of organizational virtuousness for researchers who may wish to examine its antecedents and consequences, and for practitioners who may wish to leverage environmental virtuousness in their organizations.