Understanding the factors that influence organizational decision making toward environmental
disasters or improved environmental outcomes is an essential contribution that organizational and
environmental sociology can offer to the study of humans and the environment. Dietz and Henry
(2008) point out that Hardin’s theory of the tragedy of the commons, where resources are exploited
by individuals to the point of collapse, is based on the assumptions of narrow self-interest embodied
in the rational actor paradigm. Indeed, if a firm is in full adherence with the economic rational actor
paradigm then it will use and dispose of resources in the least costly ways possible, maximizing
profit and most likely simultaneously maximizing harm to the environment. A central question for
the social sciences is then to assess what factors drive resource decision making (Dietz 2005; Dietz
& Henry, 2008). Under what conditions do narrow self- interests prevail, and when are broader
societal interests accounted for? In regards to the capitalist firm, under what contexts do firms
account for the future health of the environment and resources and take action accordingly?