ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B

Acta Psychologica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (9): 1105-1120.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2020.01105

• Reports of Empirical Studies • Previous Articles     Next Articles

How to facilitate employee green behavior: The joint role of green transformational leadership and green human resource management practice

PENG Jian1, YIN Kui2(), HOU Nan3, ZOU Yanchun1(), NIE Qi4   

  1. 1 School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
    2 School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
    3 Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    4 School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China
  • Received:2018-08-25 Published:2020-09-25 Online:2020-07-24
  • Contact: YIN Kui,ZOU Yanchun E-mail:bluesky7198@163.com;gzhuzyc@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(71902048);National Natural Science Foundation of China(71802019)

Abstract:

Faced with the problem of critical environmental pollution, organizations are expected to plan and implement environmental management practices. Employees, as the implementers of environmental management practices, have been considered to play a crucial role in organizational green management. Hence, how to facilitate employee green behavior is of particular importance for contemporary organizations. Employee green behavior is defined as a series of workplace behaviors that contribute to environmental sustainability. Given that employee green behavior is relevant to the sustainable development of the organization, this topic increasingly attracts attention and interest from scholars and practitioners alike. In particular, they have focused on how to facilitate employee green behavior.
Previous research revealed that green (environmentally specific) transformational leadership and green human resource management practice (HRM) played a crucial role in shaping employee green behavior. However, previous studies took an “either…or…” approach to investigate the effects of green transformational leadership and green HRM (separately), ignoring their joint effects. Recent studies indicated a trend to examine the joint role of leadership and HRM. Accordingly, this study explored the joint role of green transformational leadership and green HRM on employee green behavior in the Chinese context. In particular, we proposed two alternative hypotheses. Drawing on the cue consistency theory, we claimed that green transformational leadership and green HRM positively interacted to shape employee green behavior. Based on the leadership substitute theory, we proposed that green transformational leadership and green HRM negatively interacted to shape employee green behavior. Moreover, we proposed that pro-environmental goal clarity mediated the interactive effect of green transformational leadership and green HRM on employee green behavior.
We conducted two experiments and one survey study to test our hypotheses. In experiment 1a and 1b (a 2 × 2 between-subject design), the ANOVA results showed that green transformational leadership and green HRM positively interacted to shape individual green behavior, which supported the hypotheses based on cue consistence theory. Specifically, under the condition of high green transformational leadership and high green HRM, individuals were more likely to engage in green behavior. Study 2, a field study based on the survey data from 173 leader-employee dyads, not only replicated the findings of study 1a and 1b but also revealed that the interaction of green HRM and green transformational leadership was positively related to employee green behavior through the mediating role of pro-environmental goal clarity.
This study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, by revealing the positive interactive effect of green transformational leadership and green HRM on employee green behavior, our findings guide us toward a better understanding of how to facilitate employee green behavior from a comprehensive and balanced perspective. Second, by revealing the mediating role of pro-environmental goal clarity, this study contributes to a detailed understanding of how green HRM and green transformational leadership jointly influence employee green behavior. Finally, for practitioners, our results provide some implications on ways to promote employee green behavior, such as adopting green HRM and simultaneously developing the leaders’ green transformational leadership.

Key words: green transformational leadership, green HRM practice, pro-environmental goal clarity, green behavior, cue consistency theory