Environmental paradigms and organisations with an environmental mission Online publication date: Fri, 31-Oct-2014
by Nick Barter; Jan Bebbington
International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development (IJISD), Vol. 6, No. 2, 2012
Abstract: Over the past 20 years scholars have argued that key to achieving sustainability are the paradigms of organisational leaders, with these needing to move away from anthropocentric toward sustaincentric and or ecocentric perspectives. This paper reports on an empirical study that explored the views of leaders of a series of environmentally focused organisations, linking their views to the paradigm scheme of Gladwin et al. (1995) in an attempt to understand how their rhetoric is aligned to different paradigms. Findings suggest that interviewees lean towards sustaincentrism and/or ecocentrism in their rhetoric but that they also support some anthropocentric assumptions particularly with regard to economic assumptions. In support, some simple practises brought forward by the sample as helpful in embedding sustainability awareness within their organisations are also highlighted. The paper concludes that the organisations suffer with fiscal drag but also demonstrate a new 'future normal'.
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