Environmentally-Specific Empowering Leadership and Green Creativity

Abstract

Synthesizing conservation of resources and social exchange theories, we build and test a theoretical model examining the association of environmentally-specific empowering leadership (ESEL) with green creativity as well as the mediating and moderating roles of green knowledge sharing behavior and green psychological climate, respectively, in this association. Using time-lagged data from 265 employees working in 29 hotels in Pakistan, we find that ESEL is positively associated with green creativity and green knowledge sharing behavior is an effective underlying mechanism between the ESEL-green creativity association. Furthermore, our findings suggest that green psychological climate moderates the direct and indirect associations such that the associations were stronger when green psychological climate was more positive rather than less positive. The study is the first to explore the green adaptation of empowering leadership, its effects, mechanisms and boundary conditions.