TO CHANGE THE WORLD: PERSISTING AND RESILING WHEN SELLING SOCIAL ISSUES

Scott Sonenshein

Nardia Haigh

Sue Ashford

Jane Dutton

The Organization

Global Business Coalition (GBC) Mission: GBC is NGO

Close relationship with United Nations Applies “the private sector's special capabilities to

the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.” Coalition members "re-purpose" their business know-

how, infrastructure and create tools for improving public health.

Varying levels of commitment All pay membership fee Some member companies (all for profit businesses)

much more involved Spread best practices to help members advocate for

issues at work

Motivation

Issue selling is hard, selling social issues even harder Contested, intractable, peripheral, inhospitable Issues often not central to organization’s purpose

Gaps Manage setbacks likely to arise in this type of work

(resilience and persistence) Context: selling logic, relationships with others in this

space, org. support of issues Motivation: intrinsic motivation, Psychological capital Emotions: approach or avoidance

Overall Goals Deepen understanding of social psychology of

change agentry within organizations Deepen understanding of how contexts might

differentially enable individuals to be effective agents of change

The Opportunity

GBC’s enthusiastic to support issue-selling study 180 companies, many with more than 1

member to be surveyed Members assigned to a liaison role with GBC

and frequently responsible for selling social issues

Issues include GBC issues but may also include other issues such as the environment.

Sue to lead session for GBC on findings in June

Overarching question: How does the psychology of change agents influence their effectiveness in different contexts?

Study 1: How do emotions, issue selling logic and organizational context affect individuals’ resilience and issue selling effectiveness?

Study 2: How does individuals’ motivation affect their resilience and issue selling effectiveness?

Study 1 Overview

Identify a social issue Read a prompt for an issue selling plan

that contains a 2x2 manipulation (emotions X issue selling logic)

Write an issue selling plan Be informed that issue selling plan failed Write response to failure (setback)

Study 1 Design

Identify a social issue Manipulation (2x2 design) Emotion

Negative emotions: We know it can sometimes be frustrating, or even energy-depleting, to sell social issues.

Positive emotions: We know it can sometimes be exciting, or even energizing, to sell social issues

Selling logic: Common wisdom suggests that the best strategy for selling an issue is by: Business logic: appealing to a business case, such as

how addressing the issue will improve your company’s profits and the business importance of taking action

Normative logic: appealing to the human good that will come from addressing the issue and the moral importance of taking action

Study 1: Issue Selling Plan

(positive/negative emotions). One way that individuals prepare to sell social issues is to create an “issue selling plan,” which documents how they will go about selling an issue. Please write an “issue selling plan” which details, as specific as possible, how you will sell the [insert “the issue” from Q1] issue inside your current organization. You should talk about the specific tactics you will use, and on whom, to get members of your organization to pay attention to and allocate resources to this issue. Please be as detailed, but also as realistic, as you can. Common wisdom suggests that the best strategy for selling an issue is by (business/normative logic)

Study 1: Resilience

Imagine that your issue selling plan failed to bring attention and get resources for the issue. Members of your organization neither paid more attention to the issue, nor did they allocate resources for it. What do you do now? Please be as concrete and detailed about how you would proceed.

Study 1: Analysis

Coding Issue selling plan: tactics Setback: resilience techniques

Analysis of issue selling plan Expert rater assess how effective the plan

is Relate text data to manipulations and

some survey items

Study 1: Theory Development Some examples of Hs we will test; other

ideas? Positive emotions more likely to be

resilient, negative emotions less likely to be resilient.

Business logic one way of overcoming inhospitable context for social issues (business logic X context favorability)

Negative vs. positive emotions (competing hypotheses) for issue selling effectiveness

Study 2: Survey

Research questions: what explains individuals persistence in

selling social issues that are not consensually strategic for the organization?

What explains selling effectiveness?

Predictor Variables

Self-determination theory Activities will be motivating (people will persist

longer) if those activities fulfill needs for: Autonomy Relatedness Competence

Identification People’s persistence in selling an issue is related to

their identification with that issue Open question – how will persistence be affected by

identification with the firm? Organizational context and commitment

How engaged focal company is with GBC

Study 2: Mediators

Autonomy, relatedness and competency need fulfillment affects motivation (persistence) through the creation of psychological capital.

Psych Capital = Hope, Efficacy, Optimism and Resiliency

Persistence directly affects effectiveness outcomes.

Identification with the issue

Study 2: “Model”

Fulfillment of need for:AutonomyRelatednessCompetence

Identification with the company

Persistence

Selling Effectiven

ess

Psychological Capital:OptimismResiliency

HopeEfficacy

Study 2: Explorative

Tactics of Issue Selling Rationality Ingratiation Involving Others Moral Appeal Private Settings

Your Help

General reactions to the study studies? Additional theoretical perspectives to

address? How would you make the study more

“meaning focused”?

And for the survey/measurement wonks Self-determination theory Identification Edwards & Peccei 6 items

Psychological Capital Luthans, Avolio, Avey & Norman,

2006

Persistence [Dutton & Ashford 1993 (adapted) ?]

Selling effectiveness Tactics Piderit & Ashford, 2003