“Mind” matters! A conceptual framework using mental models and green nudging to drive corporate environmental responsibility

Given the urgency in taking climate action, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework to drive corporate environmental responsibility (CER) through environmentally responsible decision making (ERDM) by incorporating two interventions, the accuracy of mental models (MM) of the key decision makers and green nudging.

Relevant theories in management, cognition and behavioral sciences are studied and leaned on to build this conceptual framework.

Our mind creates MM about the real world to illustrate what we think about the world and about how it works. MM are clouded with biases and misconceptions. These MM have a tremendous impact on our behavior. The authors present how increasing the accuracy of the MM of environmental phenomena leads to efficient sensemaking and directs an ERDM thereby contributing to the environmental responsibility gestures of an organization. Green nudges attack the choice architecture of the decision maker toward ERDM.

This framework contributes to the literature on corporate social responsibility. It advances the theories at the intersection of business, economy and natural environment. The framework built with assumptions opens the scope for future research and empirical testing.

This framework contributes to practice by recommending implementable and sustainable interventions. The inaccuracies found may become the base for a sector-wise training program. Due to mimetic isomorphism, driving CER may reap policy implications.

This multi-level conceptual framework is the first to propose individual level drivers of organizational level outcome CER through MM of environmental phenomena of key decision makers and green nudging. The paper offers complementary interventions.