Bridging the gap between green behavioral intentions and employee green behavior: The role of green psychological climate

Abstract

SummaryHow do employees' perceptions and interpretations of organizational policies, practices, and procedures affect the enactment of their behavioral intentions? In a daily diary study, we examined the between‐persons relationship of corporate environmental strategy and pro‐environmental or “green” psychological climate; and whether green psychological climate moderates the within‐person relationship of employees' daily green behavioral intentions and their green behavior on the following day. To test our hypotheses, we collected survey data from 74 employees across 10 workdays. Results showed that corporate environmental strategy is positively related to green psychological climate that, in turn, moderates the relationship between green behavioral intentions and next‐day employee green behavior. Specifically, we found the relationship to be positive only when employees perceive a positive green psychological climate. We discuss implications of our findings for future research on employee green behavior and for organizations interested in encouraging employee green behavior. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Employee-Organization Fit and Voluntary Green Behavior: A Cross-Level Model Examining the Role of Perceived Insider Status and Green Organizational Climate

“…Second, employees who perceive higher fit with the organization are more likely to identify with and internalize the organization's values [31,44,45]. As mentioned before, voluntary green behavior is a kind of pro-environmental behavior that is beneficial for the organization's environmental performance [5]. Since the society would expect and applaud an organization's eco-friendly practices, those who have a higher fit with their organizations are more likely to promote, maintain, and defend the organization's image [36], which drives them to show more voluntary green behavior to sustain such positive image.…”

“…One of the most pressing and salient challenges facing organizations today is the urgent need to redress the continuing ecological degradation and strive for a better quality of environment [1,2]. As the notion of "being green makes good business sense" becomes widely accepted, organizational scholars are making more and more endeavors to explore effective ways to promote environmental performance [3][4][5]. However, these studies mostly approached from a firm-or industry-perspective, with little attention paid to intra-organizational processes (e.g., employee behavior) [1,3].…”

“…Rather, it is considered, prepared, and intended [5,20]. Drawing on these theories, empirical studies have mainly identified two categories of antecedents of voluntary green behavior, namely personal factors (e.g., conscientiousness and moral reflectiveness [2]; daily green behavioral attention [5]) and organizational factors (e.g., green human resource management practice [8]; organizational support [21]). However, most these studies focused on either personal factors or organizational factors, while much less is known about their combined effects [22,23].…”

On the Determinants of Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Literature Review and Guide for the Empirical Economist

“…the working environment, showing that a firm's environmental strategy (green climate) e.g. positively influences employees intentions and green behavior (Norton et al, 2017).…”

CSR initiative characteristics and employee engagement: An impact‐based perspective

“…Prior work suggests that organizational support for a given CSRI facilitates employee participation in the initiative (Booth, Park, & Glomb, ; Norton, Parker, Zacher, & Ashkanasy, ; Parker, Van den Broeck, & Holman, ). Forms of organizational CSRI support studied in past research include human support (i.e., leadership, expertise, and attention committed to the CSRI; Caligiuri et al, ), material support (i.e., funds, equipment, and technology for the CSRI; Booth et al, ), informational support (i.e., communication and feedback regarding CSRI goals, challenges, and progress; Du, Bhattacharya, & Sen, ; Mitnick, ), and psychosocial support (i.e., supportive attitudes of coworkers, managers, and stakeholders towards the CSRI; Norton, Zacher, Parker, & Ashkanasy, ; Rodell & Lynch, ). Consistent with engagement theory (Schaufeli & Bakker, ), these prior studies show that CSRI support promotes CSRI participation and engagement.…”