LINKING ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP AND EMPLOYEE GREEN BEHAVIOR: THE ROLE OF GREEN HRM PRACTICES

Abstract

This study examines the link between environmental leadership and employee green behavior with the mediating role of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) practices. Using Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Resource-Based View (RBV) as a theoretical lens, the study suggests that leaders who are environmentally responsible can positively affect employees' green behavior through GHRM practices. It collected data through a structured questionnaire from a sample of 387 employees working for organizations in Pakistan that are focused on the environment. Data was analyzed with structural equation modeling. The findings showed that the relationship between environmental leadership and GHRM practices significantly predicted the employee green behavior, but ecological leadership, which relates to organizational values, affected GHRM as a green system to achieve sustainability goals. This means HRM systems are needed to support leadership and sustainability. The findings supported both SET and RBV by demonstrating that employees will reciprocate the organizational environmental values as pro-environmental behaviors and by indicating that GHRM represents a valuable intangible resource to drive sustainable performance.  This research makes theoretical contributions to models of pro-environmental behavior by incorporating both leadership and HRM perspectives into the literature. It also has practical contributions for managers by providing practitioners with insights into how to promote sustainability through aligned leadership behaviors and HR policies. The research was limited by its cross-sectional design and only relied on self-reported measures. Future research can build on the limitations by exploring longitudinal data and using multiple sources of data. Overall, this research demonstrates that environmental leadership can be a driver of green behavior latent in the organizational culture when it is supported by GHRM, when simultaneously enacting GHRM policies and environmental leadership.

Keywords: Environmental Leadership, Green HRM, Employee Green Behavior, Social Exchange Theory, Resource-Based View