Organizational system thinking as a cognitive framework to meet climate targets
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Published version
Author(s)
Burato, Matteo
Tang, Samuel
Vastola, Vincenzo
Cenci, Simone
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
System thinking is a crucial cognitive framework to enable individual pro-environmental behavioral changes. Indeed, a large body of literature has shown a significant and positive association between individuals' system thinking capacities and perceptions of the threat posed by climate change. However, individual behavioral changes play a limited role in addressing climate change compared to large organizations involved in a significantly larger share of economic activities. Do organizations exhibit system thinking capacities? Here, we conjecture that system thinking is a cognitive framework observable at an aggregated group level and, therefore, organizations, not just individuals, can exhibit characteristic levels of system thinking. We conceptualize a definition of organizational system thinking and develop an empirical method to estimate it using a large body of textual data from business organizations. Then, we show that system thinking organizations are more likely to lower emissions and align them with the pathways required to meet the climate targets set by the Paris Agreement. Finally, we discussed the theoretical and policy implication of our study. Overall, our results suggest that system thinking is a relevant organization-level cognitive framework that can help organizations align their emissions with global climate targets.
Date Issued
2023-10-10
Date Acceptance
2023-09-01
Citation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 2023, 120 (41)
ISSN
0027-8424
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA
Volume
120
Issue
41
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.
This article is distributed under Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0
(CC BY-NC-ND).
This article is distributed under Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0
(CC BY-NC-ND).
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37782783
Subjects
Climate Change
Cognition
Humans
Organizational Culture
Paris
Policy
climate change
organizational behavior
system thinking
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Article Number
e2309510120
Date Publish Online
2023-10-02