Guidance to Green Action: Environmental Leadership Through the Lens of Evolutionary Psychology

Abstract

Mitigating environmental problems requires not only individual action and commitment to sustainability but also strong leadership to mobilise individuals, coordinate collective efforts and resolve conflicts among relevant agents and parties. But what do people look for in a strong environmental leader? Building from evolutionary models of leadership and followership, we posit that what followers regard as ideal environmental leaders depends critically on what they believe is required to deal with a particular ecological threat (e.g., pollution, water conservation, biodiversity loss). Specifically, we argue that some aspects of the environmental problems we are facing resemble those of recurrent problems faced by early humans and, as such, activate the same fundamental follower needs. Because of this, different environmental problems may result in different leader preferences. While a dominant and authoritarian leader might be appealing to followers when they seek active protection in an immediate environmental crisis, such as a nuclear disaster or oil spill, they may want a guiding and visionary leader in dealing with environmental problems when outcomes are delayed and therefore more uncertain, such as climate change. In addition, when environmental threats are primarily seen as distributive problems – who is going to pay for the green taxes? – they might want a leader who is fair and high in integrity. In this contribution, we examine how different environmental challenges tap into different basic follower needs, thereby affecting what people regard as ideal environmental leadership. We distinguish between three fundamental follower needs that might be relevant to different environmental issues, namely, protection, guidance and fairness. Finally, we elaborate on theory-based recommendations, reflect on whether leaders who meet context-specific follower needs actually produce better environmental results and provide suggestions to further develop this literature.

Full text

Guidance to Green Action:
Environmental Leadership Through the Lens of Evolutionary
Psychology
Gonzalo Palomo-Vélez1 & Mark van Vugt2,3
1 Universidad de O’Higgins, Chile
2 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
3 University of Oxford, UK
Mitigating environmental problems requires not only individual action and commitment
to sustainability but also strong leadership to mobilise individuals, coordinate collective
efforts and resolve conflicts among relevant agents and parties. But what do people look
for in a strong environmental leader? Building from evolutionary models of leadership
and followership, we posit that what followers regard as ideal environmental leaders
depends critically on what they believe is required to deal with a particular ecological
threat (e.g., pollution, water conservation, biodiversity loss). Specifically, we argue that
some aspects of the environmental problems we are facing resemble those of recurrent
problems faced by early humans and, as such, activate the same fundamental follower
needs. Because of this, different environmental problems may result in different leader
preferences. While a dominant and authoritarian leader might be appealing to followers
when they seek active protection in an immediate environmental crisis, such as a nuclear
disaster or oil spill, they may want a guiding and visionary leader in dealing with
environmental problems when outcomes are delayed and therefore more uncertain, such
as climate change. In addition, when environmental threats are primarily seen as
distributive problems – who is going to pay for the green taxes? – they might want a
leader who is fair and high in integrity. In this contribution, we examine how different
environmental challenges tap into different basic follower needs, thereby affecting what
people regard as ideal environmental leadership. We distinguish between three
fundamental follower needs that might be relevant to different environmental issues,
namely, protection, guidance and fairness. Finally, we elaborate on theory-based
recommendations, reflect on whether leaders who meet context-specific follower needs
actually produce better environmental results and provide suggestions to further develop
this literature.
Release date is set for November 6, 2023
To get access to the chapter, please go to the publisher website and look for chapter
num. 5: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003343011
Citation:
Palomo-Vélez, G., & Van Vugt, M. (2023). Guidance to Green Action: Environmental
Leadership Through the Lens of Evolution. In D. MacKie (Ed.). Handbook of Climate
Change Leadership in Organisations: Leadership Development in the Age of
Sustainability (1st ed.). Routledge: UK