Linking the employee voice to a more sustainable organisation: the case of Lithuania

Abstract

During the past years, sustainability has become an idea of organisational development. There is a growing trend to focus more not only on yield and economic profit but also on the care for the environment and contribution to the social balance, simultaneously delivering economic, social, and environmental benefits. This paper aims to determine how employee voice can lead to a more sustainable organisation by examining the gap between employee preferences and the current situation. The quantitative method in the form of a survey was used to examine the role of employee voice in the journey towards a more sustainable organisation across different sociodemographic characteristics. Four-hundred-and-twelve complete responses from Lithuanian employees representing different business and public sector organisations were used for analysis. The results of empirical research revealed a significant gap between the employee voice (importance of sustainable behaviour) regarding economic, social and environmental issues and the manifested corresponding sustainable behaviour. The largest interval in values of the employee voice and the current situation was determined in the groups of sustainable environmental behaviour and sustainable economic behaviour.

Keywords

• employee voice
• sustainability
• sustainable organisation
• sustainable behaviour