What Activist Strategies Produce Environmental Organizational Change?
Sustainability advocates and potential change agents clearly struggle for institutional attention and resources. However, there is little empirical research on the types of activist strategies which are most likely to garner attention. The CESS indicates that Talloires Declaration signatories are most likely to pursue sustainability because of the potential benefits to reputation (3.76), cost savings/finances (3.72), and regulatory pressures (3.68) (Table 5). Signatories are least likely to be motivated by benefits to stakeholder satisfaction/happiness (3.11), strategic positioning (3.36), and stakeholder recruitment (3.39). However, when these potential reasons for sustainability action are correlated with reported sustainability outcomes (i.e., SLS), a strong correlation (r=0.65; p<.01) appears between appealing to institutional strategic/ethical interest and sustainability success. Conversely, more short-term appeals - such as finances and regulatory compliance - are not statistical
