Aim

Our research activities focus on exploring how organisations and other actors deal with complexities and overcome tensions between conflicting goals and needs, in order to pursue dynamic balances with social-ecological systems. Using a pragmatic approach, this area aims to design impactful research that generates practical solutions and new knowledge to support managers, policy makers and individuals in changing their perspective, broadening their horizons and adopting a systemic view.

Research streams

The SCOPES area is divided into four main research streams:

• Organisational change & Employees' Behaviour: this line of research aims to study the “levers” - at an institutional, organisational and individual level - of organisational change aimed at sustainability, focusing on decision-making processes, organisational and behavioural dynamics, in specific areas of organisational action such as environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety at work.
• Consumer & Green Marketing: this line of research aims to explore the complexity of ‘green’ consumer choices, identifying the main drivers and barriers, in different contexts such as psychological, social, product-specific, purchasing factors etc. The role of environmental information, green claims and ecolabels in influencing consumer purchasing behaviour and counteracting greenwashing practices is explored through the application of experimental designs.
• Business Strategy: this research stream aims to explore how business strategies integrate economic, social and environmental objectives, and how potential tensions between conflicting objectives are managed through the development of a systemic vision. Special attention is paid to the relationship between business and biodiversity, and how the concept of Planetary Boundaries is integrated into corporate strategic processes.
• Sustainable public procurement: this research stream focuses on the practices through which public administrations integrate environmental sustainability criteria into their procurement (also known as Green Public Procurement - GPP), with the aim of reducing the ecological impact of purchased goods and services, promoting circular economy practices, energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction, stimulating environmentally friendly solutions and encouraging sustainable innovation in the market.

Main research projects

The team applies a pragmatist approach by selecting the most appropriate methodology to answer the specific research question. Thus, qualitative (e.g. case study; process study), quantitative (e.g. survey and experiment) and engaged scholarship research methodologies are used and developed according to a co-creation logic,to reduce the gap between research and practice.

The SCOPES area carries out research projects funded at the European and national levels, and by private entities such as associations and companies. Some of our most relevant projects are listed below:

The Laboratory on Health, Safety & Environment (LabHSE) organisational models aims to unite academia and business in the co-creation of knowledge and tools useful to support companies in facing the modern challenges of managing Health, Safety and Environment in the workplace. From 2017 to date, LabHSE activities have involved more than 15 large Italian companies, leaders in their respective fields and with extensive experience in HSE management, in action-research activities on the topics of organisational culture, managerial leadership and HSE performance measurement.

The research group, as part of the GRINS (Growing Resilient, INclusive and Sustainable) project, funded by the PNRR, works mainly on Spoke 1, dealing with activity 1.1.3 . Itstudies the complexity that characterises consumers' choices, their attitudes, values, knowledge, past behaviour and intentions, in order to provide useful information - for policymakers, companies and consumers themselves - to guide behavioural change towards purchasing choices and lifestyles with a reduced impact on the environment.

The SCELTA project (Schooling the Circular Economy Making Leva on Purchasing Tendences) is a path started with CONAI in 2019 to create an ‘observatory’ of the main trends in consumer attitudes, knowledge, and behaviour regarding environmental issues, as well as to explore consumer reactions to greenwashing phenomena and how they respond to trade-offs between environmental and economic objectives. As of 2023, a new strand of activity was added alongside the consumer survey part: a working table with numerous companies to support the interpretation, understanding and application of European regulatory provisions on green claims.

The SCOPES research area's contribution to the National Biodiversity Future Centre ( NBFC )(https://www.nbfc.it/ ) aims to understand the complex relationship between business and biodiversity by exploring the strategies applied by Italian companies to preserve natural ecosystems by investigating drivers, barriers, skills and other factors that have influenced the implementation of biodiversity management solutions aimed at regenerative business models.

Within the framework of the PRINCE project financed by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE programme, the SCOPES team plays the role of scientific partner, coordinating the initial and final assessment of the state of ‘circularity’ of both the public sector (demand) and private enterprises (supply).Research activities aim to establish a baseline on the performance of the circular economy and to assess the barriers to green public procurement (GPP), as well as the inter- and intra-organisational dynamics to facilitate coordination between supply and demand.

Main publications 

1. Bianchi, G., Testa, F., Boiral, O., & Iraldo, F. (2022). Organizational learning for environmental sustainability: Internalizing lifecycle management. Organization & Environment, 35(1), 103-129.
2. Di Iorio, V., Testa, F., Korschun, D., Iraldo, F., & Iovino, R. (2023). Curious about the circular economy? Internal and external influences on information search about the product lifecycle. Business Strategy and the Environment, 32(4), 2193-2208. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3243 
3. Gusmerotti, N. M., Todaro, N. M., Tosi, D., & Testa, F. (2023). Green work climate, work meaningfulness and supervisor environmental priority: A social exchange perspective on employees' eco-initiatives. Journal of Cleaner Production, 415, 137889.
4. Iovino, R., Testa, F., & Iraldo, F. (2024). Do consumers understand what different green claims actually mean? An experimental approach in Italy. Journal of Advertising, 53(2), 200-214.
5. Miroshnychenko, I., De Massis, A., Barontini, R., & Testa, F. (2022). Family firms and environmental performance: A meta-analytic review. Family Business Review, 35(1), 68-90.  
6. Taglialatela, J., Miroshnychenko, I., Barontini, R., & Testa, F. (2024). Talk or walk? The board of directors and firm environmental strategies. Business Strategy and the Environment, 33(4), 2890-2910.
7. Testa, F., Iovino, R., & Iraldo, F. (2020). The circular economy and consumer behaviour: The mediating role of information seeking in buying circular packaging. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(8), 3435-3448.
8. Todaro, N. M., Testa, F., Rizzi, F., Vizzoto, F., & Curcuruto, M. (2023). Safety climate in high safety maturity organisations: Development of a multidimensional and multilevel safety climate questionnaire. Safety science, 166, 106231.
9. Todaro, N. M., Testa, F., & Gusmerotti, N. M. (2022). Drivers of employees' proactiveness for sustainability embeddedness: Examining situation‐related antecedents of information exchange. Business Strategy and the Environment, 31(5), 1919-1937.
10. Tosi, D., Gusmerotti, N. M., Testa, F., & Frey, M. (2024). How companies navigate circular economy paradoxes: An organizational perspective. Journal of Environmental Management, 353, 120269.