"Green Incrementalism" - Start Small!
What does the term "greenwashing" mean?
As the trend of corporate responsibility steers companies to jump on the "green bandwagon," some remain involved only at surface level. "Greenwashing" refers to companies who unjustifiably portray themselves to the public as environmentally conscious. These companies make more efforts to appear to reduce their environmental impact than efforts to invest in the business practices that would actually do so.Take the classic example of a hotel that claims they are "green" because they give guests the option of using the same sheets and towels for their entire stay, or banks that are "green" because they have online banking available. While these practices might not make them "green" companies, aren’t they taking a step in the right direction towards environmentally-friendly practices?
Let’s look for a moment at the results of a psychological study on social influence on green behaviors, conducted by Professor Robert B. Cialdini and his graduate students at Arizona State University. The research examined the response of 190 guests at a Holiday Inn in Arizona when different cards urging them to reuse their towels were placed in the bathroom. All the cards differed but were all designed to stimulate recycling.
| HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT. You can show your respect for nature and help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay. |
| PARTNER WITH US TO HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT. In exchange for your participation in this program, we at the hotel will donate a percentage of the energy savings to a nonprofit environmental protection organization. The environment deserves our combined efforts. You can join us by reusing your towels during your stay. |
| JOIN YOUR FELLOW GUESTS IN HELPING TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT. Almost 75% of guests who are asked to participate in our new resource savings program do help by using their towels more than once. You can join your fellow guests to help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay. |
| WE'RE DOING OUR PART FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. CAN WE COUNT ON YOU? Because we are committed to preserving the environment, we have made a financial contribution to a nonprofit environmental protection organization on behalf of the hotel, and its guests. If you would like to help us in recovering the expense, while conserving natural resources, please reuse your towels during your stay. |
The first and the second messages, which focus on environmental-protection and environmental-cooperation, produced a towel reuse rate of 38 and 36 percent respectively, while the third and the fourth messages, using descriptive norms and reciprocation appeal, generated a recycling activity of about 48 and 47 percent respectively. The results clearly indicated that the third and fourth messages were more effective. But why?
It is evident that individuals are very responsive to social influence and reciprocation. No one wants to be singled out as ungrateful and as a result people tend to reciprocate philanthropic efforts.
In the business world, social influence theory also applies to corporate social responsibility. Just like the hotel guest who wants to be seen as an environmentally conscious person like his peers, corporations do not want to stand alone while other companies take the lead in role in mitigating environmental impact. Although some corporations choose to take the easy way and pretend they follow "green" best practices, others have taken the opposite approach and have implemented highly ambitious initiatives that become overwhelming when you have to squeeze what you can out of every dollar.
While imitation may be the finest form of flattery, corporations unjustifiably advertising their "green" initiatives in an attempt to keep up run the risk of being called out for "greenwashing". So instead, why not start small?
"Green Incrementalism" is a step in the right direction. Instead of investing money in advertising and marketing claiming to be "green," start implementing simple business practices that minimize environmental impact as a foundation to build on. After all, going green will save you green. While expensive efforts may provide a corporations with a competitive advantage, even basic programs that reduce, reuse and recycle lead to cost saving in long run. Every effort counts!