Paper short abstract:

Business leaders might have failed to respond to critical environmental issues created by their organization. The lack of environmental knowledge and the race to achieve profitability are among factors that influence leaders’ perceptions and preventing them from making ethical decisions.

Paper long abstract:

Maintaining environmental standards is a challenging task that requires knowledge and understanding of the impacts of unethical decisions on human well-being, especially in developing countries. Lack of knowledge, the race to achieve profitability, and other factors are preventing leaders from making ethical decisions, which could have direct and indirect influence on health, technology, and economy, problems particularly acute in poor and developing countries. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand the shared meaning and conscious reality organizational leaders have about environmental management. The population, drawn from Liberian companies in Liberia, consisted of 21 managers with 5 years of experience from different professions, socioeconomic backgrounds, and experiences related to environmental management. Data collection was based on audio recorded interviews to explore the perceptions, attitudes, and lived experiences and finding common themes among participant responses. Moustakas' modified Van Kaam qualitative design was deemed appropriate for the study as the participants' shared meaning and conscious reality were obtained from an in-depth semi-structured interview protocol with open-ended questions. Data were transcribed with Dragon12® transcription software. Transcriptions were subsequently coded for themes and patterns with NVivo8® software. Participants felt leadership should pay attention to the factors that influence their decisions in relation to environmental management and promote employee knowledge and awareness about protecting the environment without compromising organizational goals and profitability. Participants felt many factors exist that influence leaders' decisions including perceptions, knowledge, training, feasibility, ethics, and, in particular, governmental support.