Dr. Wren Montgomery studies how various forms of social organizing can advance – or obstruct – change. She is primarily interested in the role of collaboration and unconventional coalitions in overcoming obstacles to solving the world’s most pressing challenges, with a focus on the intersections of climate change, water crises, soil degradation, and social justice. Her research integrates and contributes to theories of change across institutional theory, social movements, economics, and entrepreneurship. She is particularly interested in how social organizing impacts two critical and interrelated issues, greenwash and justice:
Greenwash: Greenwashing is when an organization misleads people into adopting overly positive beliefs about its environmental performance, practices, or products. Wren’s research has been pivotal in defining greenwashing and its tactics, and informing strategies to stop it. Her work has been featured in prominent media outlets, such as The Washington Post, Fast Company, CBC Marketplace, and The Network for Business Sustainability. In 2023, Wren also co-founded the Greenwash Action Lab to make academic research and insights accessible to policymakers, NGOs, and managers leading anti-greenwashing efforts.
Social justice and resource equity: Wren researches important questions, such as: Who can access critical resources, like clean water? And how can individuals, communities, companies, and coalitions make resource distribution more equitable? Her keystone work in this area, a multi-year project on water access, won a best dissertation (ONE) and best paper award (OMT) at the Academy of Management for its deep theoretical contributions, as well as prominent awards – the IACMR-RRBM Award for Responsible Research in Management and the NBS-ONE Research Impact on Practice Award – for its real-world impact.
Dr. Montgomery is deeply committed to doing research that has both academic significance and real-world impact. She is a passionate educator and seeks to do this by: helping students to understand the roots of problems and identify leverage points for change; researching and providing successful approaches and tools to changemakers; engaging and working collaboratively with impacted communities; and, by serving on government, NGO, and corporate boards. Wren is also an experienced management consultant and senior government policy analyst and is always happy to collaborate in doing the vital work of making change.
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Montgomery, A. W.; Lyon, T. P.; Barg, J., 2024, "No End in Sight? A Greenwash Review and Research Agenda", Organization & Environment, June 37(2)
Abstract: Greenwashing is more virulent than ever. A profusion of environmental, social, and governance and net zero commitments are becoming fraught with questionable and misleading claims. At the same time, we are no closer to solving the pressing environmental and social issues of our time. In this review, we seek to examine this shift and summarize changes in greenwash research into three key phases: (a) 1.0 Static Communication; (b) 2.0 Dynamic Management; and (c) 3.0 Narratives about the Future. We analyze current key areas of developing literature and point to numerous open questions for future research. Next, we go beyond much of the published work to examine emerging tactics and lay out a forward-looking agenda for future research. We also propose a model of Corporate Miscommunication, integrating various streams in greenwash research. In doing so, we seek to lay a pathway for greenwashing researchers to finally find that elusive “end” to greenwashing.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10860266231168905
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Robertson, J. L.; Montgomery, A. W.; Ozbilir, T., 2023, "Employees’ Response to Corporate Greenwashing", Business Strategy and The Environment, November 32(7): 4015 - 4027.
Abstract: Research on corporate greenwashing has expanded rapidly in recent years. At the same time, emerging studies in related literatures have found that employees are seeking out firms that are social and environmental leaders, and employee activism within firms is growing. However, the effect of firms' exaggeration and misrepresentation of environmental claims, or greenwashing, on their own employees has been overlooked. Accordingly, we investigate greenwashing from an organizational psychology lens, exploring the impact it can have on employees, and whether these effects differ for different types of employees. Using data collected at three separate time points from a sample of employees educated in environmental science/sustainability, our results show that greenwashing was positively related to perceptions of corporate hypocrisy, which in turn, resulted in higher turnover intentions. We also found that these relationships were moderated by employees' level of environmental education. By uncovering the deleterious effects greenwashing can have for employees, and by extension for their employers, these findings generate insights into the extent to which corporate environmental communications can backfire.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bse.3351
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Barling, J.; Weatherhead, J. G.; Pupco, S.; Turner, N.; Montgomery, A. W., 2022, "Contextual, interpersonal, and personal predictors of young adults' affective-identity motivation to lead", Leadership and Organization Development Journal, October 43(7): 1118 - 1139.
Abstract: Purpose: Why some people are motivated to become leaders is important both conceptually and practically. Motivation to lead compels people to seek out leadership roles and is a distinct predictor of leader role occupancy. The goal of our research is to determine contextual (socioeconomic status and parenting quality), interpersonal (sociometric status), and personal (self-esteem and gender) antecedents of the motivation to lead among young adults. Design/methodology/approach: The authors tested the model using two samples of Canadian undergraduate students (Sample 1: N = 174, M age = 20.02 years, 83% female; Sample 2: N = 217, M age = 18.8 years, 54% female). The authors tested the proposed measurement model using the first sample, and tested the hypothesized structural model using the second sample. Findings: The proposed 5-factor measurement model provided an excellent fit to the data. The hypothesized model also provided a good fit to the data after controlling for potential threats from endogeneity. In addition, gender moderated the relationship between sociometric status and affective-identity motivation to lead, such that this interaction was significant for females but not males. Practical implications: The findings make a practical contribution in understanding how parents, teachers, and organizations can encourage greater motivation to lead, especially among young adults who have faced poverty and marginalization and tend to be excluded from leadership positions in organizations. Originality/value: The authors conceptualize and test the contextual, interpersonal, and personal predictors of affective-identity motivation to lead among young adults.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-05-2021-0219
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Nemes, N.; Scanlan, S. J.; Smith, P.; Smith, T.; Aronczyk, M.; Hill, S.; Lewis, S. L.; Montgomery, A. W.; Tubiello, F. N.; Stabinsky, D., et al., 2022, "An Integrated Framework to Assess Greenwashing", Sustainability, April 14(8): 4431 - 4431.
Abstract: In this paper we examine definitions of ‘greenwashing’ and its different forms, developing a tool for assessing diverse ‘green’ claims made by various actors. Research shows that significant deception and misleading claims exist both in the regulated commercial sphere, as well as in the unregulated non-commercial sphere (e.g., governments, NGO partnerships, international pledges, etc.). Recently, serious concerns have been raised over rampant greenwashing, in particular with regard to rapidly emerging net zero commitments. The proposed framework we developed is the first actionable tool for analysing the quality and truthfulness of such claims. The framework has widespread and unique potential for highlighting efforts that seek to delay or distract real solutions that are urgently needed today to tackle multiple climate and environmental crises. In addition, we note how the framework may also assist in the development of practices and communication strategies that ultimately avoid greenwashing.
Link(s) to publication:
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4431/htm
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su14084431
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Montgomery, A. W.; Dacin, M. T., 2021, "Burning Down the House: COVID-19 and Institutions", Journal of Management Studies, July 58(5): 1426 - 1430.
Abstract: As the COVID-19 pandemic swept around the world in early 2020, countries with strong healthcare systems, norms of communal behavior, and respect for law appeared to be coming out ahead. Institutions were holding strong. It was not long, however, before COVID-19 was revealing the failures of long-trusted institutions to care for citizens equi-tably, or to maintain public trust. Institutions were revealed to be inadequate or in decay. These included institutions such as government, public health, education, democracy, religion, and science. In some cases, these institutions appear fractured and weak and in other contexts we see them appear stronger as market logics retreat and state logics expand. Newly emergent celebrities such as Dr. Fauci flood the airwaves joined by a plethora of epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists ready and willing to share their insights.In this commentary, we examine the cracks COVID-19 has exposed in institutions; specifically, the vulnerability, entropy, neglect, and decay of institutions long-thought to be powerful and stable. In the harsh light of the pandemic, this has meant witnessing growing income inequality, inequitable access to public services (water, electricity) and to basic necessities of life (healthcare, housing, education, food), as well as intersecting racial and gender injustices and the impacts of environmental destruction. We argue that the effects of COVID-19, have played out in two key ways. First, increased scrutiny on institutions has shown that many long-accepted as strong, are not. Years of neglect has weakened institutional structures, many with their very foundations built on ideas of broad and equitable access. Second, this unveiling has shown us that some institutions we took for granted may not be socially desirable and, worse, may be the very causes of these unsustainable and unjust systems.
Link(s) to publication:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joms.12700
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joms.12700
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Montgomery, A. W.; Wolske, K.; Lyon, T., 2021, "The Millennial ‘Meh’: Correlated Groups as Collective Agents in the Automobile Field", Journal of Management Studies, May 58(3): 673 - 717.
Abstract: Explanations for field change emphasize the role of purposeful strategic actors, paying little attention to uncoordinated but cohesive social groups, despite their profound impacts on fields ranging from autos and news to politics. Using a mixed methods approach, we study Millennials’ driving behaviours, focusing on the role of generation cohorts as field actors. Combining in‐depth qualitative analysis with an original nationwide survey (N = 2,225) we find that Millennials exhibit significantly different driving behaviour than earlier generations, driving for roughly 8 per cent fewer trips. These differences are primarily due to their attitudes, not, as commonly presumed, socio‐economic factors. Our results contribute to theory on fields and collective actors. First, we identify a new field phenomenon, correlated groups, uncoordinated actors behaving as collective agents due to shared experiences and characteristics. Second, we identify four mechanisms through which correlated groups impact fields: correlated imprinting, cohorts as conduit, cohort myth apathy, and cohort myth creation.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joms.12606
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Montgomery, A. W.; Dacin, M. T., 2020, "Water Wars in Detroit: Custodianship and the Work of Institutional Renewal", Academy of Management Journal, October 63(5): 1455 - 1484.
Abstract: We examine the role of custodianship in the renewal of the institution of public water services in Detroit, Michigan. Our longitudinal qualitative study begins prior to the 33,000 household water shutoffs of 2014 and follows this ongoing crisis through 2017. It reveals the complexity of the task of renewing neglected societal institutions suffering institutional entropy. We provide an in-depth study of the characteristics, motivations, and actions of institutional custodians – actors who maintain and enhance institutionalized practices. We inductively identify four groups of custodians (operatives, warriors, converts, and agnostics) who are catalyzed to act at different times, take on unique roles, and have distinct understandings of institutional rules. In doing so, we establish that custodianship is both distributed and heterogeneous, rather than static and homogeneous, and highlight key intersections across custodians. Our study also offers timely insights into resource access and affordability in marginalized communities, and the role of institutions in addressing grand challenges such as the emerging global water crisis.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.1098
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Montgomery, A. W.; Lyon, T. P.; Zhao, D., 2018, "Not a Drop to Drink? Drinking Water Quality, System Ownership, and Stakeholder Attention", Research in the Sociology of Organizations, July 56: 207 - 245.
Abstract: As demands on increasingly scarce global water resources intensify, a battle is emerging between two divergent views of water access and control. On one hand are those who believe that water is a public right and shared ‘commons,’ and on the other are those who argue that privatization of water as a ‘commodity’ is a more efficient means of managing water resources. Evidence to support either of these views is scarce, however, especially with respect to the impact of ownership on water quality. We argue that ownership alone is not sufficient to explain water quality outcomes, and that stakeholder attention plays a key moderating role. We hypothesize that pressures from national social movement organizations will be strongest for large, privately owned systems. Smaller systems, and systems that are publicly owned, will be more influenced by attention from local stakeholders. To test these hypotheses, we compare the performance of public versus private water systems in the U.S. in terms of their compliance with outcome (water quality) and procedural (treatment technique) standards, using a dataset covering 168,823 municipal water systems in the U.S. over the period 2010-2014. We find support for our hypotheses: private systems’ likelihood of being in compliance with drinking water quality standards improves strongly with system size, while public systems’ compliance improves strongly with local stakeholder attention.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20180000056009
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Corbett, J.; Montgomery, A. W., 2017, "Environmental Entrepreneurship and Interorganizational Arrangements: A Model of Social-benefit Market Creation", Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, December 11(4): 422 - 440.
Abstract: Social‐benefit markets, such as those for carbon trading, are becoming increasingly popular for combating complex social and environmental problems. However, their unique characteristics pose substantial challenges to market creation and require novel entrepreneurial approaches. Integrating the entrepreneurship literature with that of management information systems, we conceptualize social‐benefit markets as a new type of interorganizational arrangement and develop a model of social‐benefit market creation. First, we argue that a core entrepreneurial collective, comprising a plurality of actors from government, business, and social movements, is essential. Second, we elaborate a six‐phase process through which the interests of entrepreneurs are aligned and inscribed in a market artifact and the market is formed. The model is illustrated with reference to the Western Climate Initiative's carbon market creation efforts.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sej.1250
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Lyon, T. P.; Montgomery, A. W., 2015, "The Means and End of Greenwash", Organization and Environment, June 28(2): 223 - 249.
Abstract: Corporate claims about environmental performance have increased rapidly in recent years, as has the incidence of greenwash, that is, communication that misleads people into forming overly positive beliefs about an organization’s environmental practices or products. References to greenwash in the literature have grown rapidly since the term was introduced more than 2 decades ago, with a sharp increase in articles since 2011. We review and synthesize this fragmented and multidisciplinary literature, showing that greenwash is a broad umbrella term that encompasses a variety of specific forms of misleading environmental communication. More research is needed that identifies and catalogues the varieties of greenwash, theorizes and models their mechanisms drawing on existing social science research, and measures their impacts on corporate performance and social welfare.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1086026615575332
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Lyon, T. P.; Montgomery, A. W., 2013, "Tweetjacked: The Impact of Social Media on Corporate Greenwash", Journal of Business Ethics, December 118(4): 747 - 757.
Abstract: We theorize that social media will reduce the incidence of corporate greenwash. Drawing on the management literature on decoupling and the economic literature on information disclosure, we characterize specifically where this effect is likely to be most pronounced. We identify important differences between social media and traditional media, and present a theoretical framework for understanding greenwash in which corporate environmental communications may backfire if citizens and activists feel a company is engaging in excessive self-promotion. The framework allows us to draw out a series of propositions regarding the impact of social media on corporate decisions whether to greenwash, and what channels to use for environmental communication. We conclude with a number of suggestions for future research. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Link(s) to publication:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-013-1958-x
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1958-x
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Montgomery, A. W.; Dacin, P. A.; Dacin, M. T., 2012, "Collective Social Entrepreneurship: Collaboratively Shaping Social Good", Journal of Business Ethics, December 111(3): 375 - 388.
Abstract: In this paper, we move beyond the typical focus on the role of individuals in leading social change to examine “collective social entrepreneurship”, the role multiple actors collaboratively play to address social problems, create new institutions, and dismantle outdated institutional arrangements. Specifically, we examine collective social entrepreneurship across a diverse range of collaborative activities including movements, alliances and markets for social good. We identify resource utilization approaches and three associated sets of activities that illustrate the work of collective social entrepreneurs—framing, convening, and multivocality. Using illustrative case studies to examine the phenomenon, we highlight the capacity of collective action across sectors to create markets, institutions and organizations and, to derive success by resonating through embeddedness in broader social movements.
Link(s) to publication:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1501-5
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