Environmental Sustainability Intervention in the Workplace: A Feasibility Study Among Employees from the Energy Sector

Employees’ green workplace attitudes and behaviours represent a driving force for organizations’ contributions to environmental sustainability. The present quasi-experimental (pre-post-test) study aimed to assess the feasibility of a novel psychoeducational intervention grounded in a metacognitive-motivational approach and focused on promoting environmental awareness and proneness toward acting pro-environmentally at work among energy sector employees. A sample of 78 employees from the operational level attended three in-person group-based sessions. Pre-post testing surveys assessed green workplace attitudes and behaviours, environmental awareness, and employees’ expectations and satisfaction with the intervention. Results show that employees reported greater environmental awareness and lower self-reported ease to identify and communicate environmental anomalies with potential harmful impacts at post-intervention compared with pre-test. Employees’ satisfaction regarding the intervention’s usefulness, motivation, and interest at post-test exceeded their initial expectations. Employees also rated the intervention capable of providing a greater understanding of environmental issue management at work and in daily life to a greater extent than what was expected at pre-test. Overall feedback on the content, structure, and activities was highly positive. Our findings support the feasibility of applying a metacognitive-motivational approach, showing employees’ acceptability and increased environmental awareness after the intervention, as a promising intervention strategy for organizations to prompt environmental sustainability within organizational contexts.