Sustainable enterprises: green psychological climate and sustainable behaviors in an italian agri-food company

This doctoral thesis investigates how environmental sustainability (ES) is implemented and perceived within a large Italian agri-food company. Grounded in work and organizational psychology, the study analyzes the translation of external environmental pressures into internal organizational processes, emphasizing the role of top management, green HR practices, and informal change agents in shaping green organizational culture and sustainable workplace behaviors. Through a multi-method research design—including interviews, document analysis, and questionnaires—the project explores the relationship between environmental policies, eco-initiatives, and employee perceptions, focusing on the Green Work Climate (GWC) model as both a mediating and descriptive framework. Four empirical studies analyze the antecedents and effects of sustainable behaviors, revealing how organizational and group-level climates influence employee engagement in eco-civic actions and eco-initiatives. The findings offer both theoretical and practical implications for enhancing environmental sustainability in industrial settings, emphasizing the importance of aligning top-down policies with bottom-up engagement.