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Understanding and responding to the climate change issue: Towards a whole-of-science research agenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Charmine EJ Härtel  and
Graeme I Pearman
Charmine EJ Härtel
Affiliation:
UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD, Australia
Graeme I Pearman
Affiliation:
Graeme Pearman Consulting Pty Ltd and Monash University, Clayton VIC, Australia
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Abstract

Much of human behavior and the very fabric of our economies and culture relate to the nature of our climate, its regularity/variability and severity. Climate change should therefore be a central field of inquiry in the social, behavioral and organizational sciences generally. This is especially so given that much of the observed and current climate change is attributed with a high degree of confidence to human activities and further change is anticipated. Whilst historically biophysical research has tended to dominate attention to the climate-change issue, there is an emerging literature examining laypeople's environment-related knowledge structures and the changes in attitudes, beliefs and behaviors required to effectively implement responses to the issues raised by the physical sciences. However, there are limitations in this literature, particularly regarding how scientists themselves engage with and capture emerging knowledge related to the issue. Although there is a broad consensus that the environmental problems we are experiencing are essentially social, organizational and behavioral problems, insufficient attention has been given to the issue of how to cultivate a cross disciplinary approach to address what is a complex and systemic problem (Cash et al., 2006). This article seeks to bring that issue into focus and offers a whole-of-science agenda for climate-change related research. It is essential that social, behavioral and organizational scientists accept greater responsibility for helping to address and facilitate the social, attitudinal, behavioral and management changes required to ameliorate and respond to the environmental deterioration identified by research in the physical sciences. The need for further and ongoing multi-disciplinary and international research is both necessary and pressing. Moreover, it is an ethical and practical responsibility that individuals of all scientific persuasions cannot afford to shirk.

Keywords

environmental deteriorationanthropogenic interferenceclimate change researchsocial, organizational and behavioral sciencebiophysical sciencewhole-of-science agendaattitudinal change
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 16 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2010

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Footnotes

1

The first author completed part of this work while employed as Professor and Director of the Social and Economic Interface Research Network (SEIRnet) in the Department of Management at Monash University, Clayton, VIC Australia

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