A Time-lagged Examination of Voluntary and Task-related Green Behavior in the Travel Industry

Abstract

With climate change continuing to threaten the earth’s ecosystems, the travel industry is under increased pressure to adopt green policies. The effective implementation of these policies is largely dependent on employee commitment, but research offering insights into employees’ green behavior in the travel industry is sparse. We addressed this gap using the value-belief-norm theory to conceptualize the drivers of employees’ task-related and voluntary green behaviors. We examined the impact of values (biospheric, altruistic, and egoistic), beliefs (the new environmental paradigm, awareness of consequences, and ascription of responsibility), and pro-environmental personal norms on these outcomes. Analyzing time-lagged data collected in three waves from 186 hotel employees, we found a positive sequential association of biospheric values with beliefs, norms, and green behaviors. From a theoretical viewpoint, our study grounds hotel employees’ green behaviors in a prosocial theory, thereby offering a relatively new yet pertinent explanation of these behaviors.