DIRECTIONS: READ THE FOLLOWING STUDENT POST AND RESPOND. CITE REFERENCES USING APA FORMAT.
Research Problems and research questions : U2D1
Cristy Leask
This discussion post will focus on the article :
Robertson, J. L., &Barling, J. (2013). Greening organizations through leaders' influence on employees' pro-environmental behaviors. Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 34(2), 176-194. doi:10.1002/job.1820
Describe the research problem and the sub-problems as defined by the text
The research process begins with a problem or an unanswered question (Leedy&Ormod, 2016). The research problem articled by the researchers in that there is a research gap in the literature while there is a considerable body of research on environmental sustainability at organizational, macro level, there is lack of research exploring leaders' influence on organization pro-environmental behaviors. Their research program seeks to close this gap and responds to this call to focus on leaders' impact on environmental sustainability.
Explain how you were able to recognize the research problem in your article
The researcher were very explicit in their articulation of the gap. The researchers listed three calls for research in this area : the need for empirical research that investigates how promoting workplace pro-environmental, calls by the APA for psychologists and those studying organizations; to become involved in research that encourages environmentally sustainable behaviors, and journals and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology have appealed for research on leadership, organizations, and environmental sustainability.
State the research question or questions of the article, as defined by the text.
The researchers, Robertson &Barling (2013), specific area of micro research within organization was to explore leaders' influence on sustainability.
They developed and then tested a model based on the premise that environmental transformation of organizations can be enhanced through the leaders' transformational leadership, perception of their environmental leadership, and their workplace pro-environmental behaviors. The model generated a number of testable hypotheses which were then tested statistically.
The research hypotheses were :
Hypothesis 1a: Leaders' environmental descriptive norms will influence their workplace pro-environmental behaviors.
Hypothesis 1b: Leaders' environmental descriptive norms will influence their environmentally-specific transformational leadership.
Hypothesis 2: Environmentally-specific transformational leadership and leaders' workplace pro-environmental behaviors will be positively correlated
Hypothesis 3: Environmentally-specific transformational leadership will influence subordinates' harmonious passion for the environment
Hypothesis 4a: Leaders' workplace pro-environmental behaviors will influence subordinates' workplace pro environmental behaviors
Hypothesis 4b: Leaders' workplace pro-environmental behaviors will influence subordinates' harmonious passion for the environment
Hypothesis 5: Subordinates' harmonious environmental passion will influence their workplace pro-environmental behaviors.
Evaluate the relationship between the research questions and the research problem. Are the research questions sufficient to address the research problem?
The need for the research, the research problem, was were clearly stated in the article. There was clear, consistent language in the background and research problem. The researchers described the testable model in concrete terms, hence, there was a clear path of what they need to accomplish.
The testable research model was broken down into testable hypotheses. Yes, the researchers suggested a model which then generated various hypotheses which address the research problem.
List the persistent link for the article in your response.