Green inclusive leadership and green creativity in the tourism and hospitality sector: serial mediation of green psychological climate and work engagement

Tahseen Ahmed Bhutto,Ramsha Farooq,Shalini Talwar,Usama Awan,Amandeep Dhir

doi:10.1080/09669582.2020.1867864

Abstract

Green creativity contributes to green innovation and green sustainability in both the manufacturing and services sectors. However, academic research offering more nuanced insights about the drivers of green creativity (GCRT) is deficient, particularly within the tourism and hospitality sector. The present study thus theorized a model based on the Componential Theory of Creativity (CTC) to examine green inclusive leadership (GIL), green psychological climate (GPC), and green work engagement (GWE) as antecedents of GCRT. The model not only posits the direct associations but also accommodates a more complex interaction of variables by anticipating the mediation effect of GPC and GWE on the association of GIL and GCRT. The data collected through Prolific from 302 employees in the tourism and hospitality sector is analyzed using PROCESS macro. Findings confirmed a positive association of GIL with GPC and GCRT, GPC with GWE, and GWE with GCRT. In addition, the sequential mediation effect of GPC and GWE is supported. These results are useful for the tourism and hospitality sector, where a relational leadership style, such as inclusive leadership, is more relevant for fostering creativity, given the small size of business units, the sector's service-oriented nature, and the power of employees at the point of interface with the customers.

Highlights

Tourism is one of the most valued commercial activities worldwide for how it spurs economic growth
A green-oriented psychological climate drives green creative behavior and generates employees’ motivation and engagement toward the creative tasks assigned by leadership (Kataria et al, 2013; Lee & Ok, 2015). Such engagement with green-related work ensures employees are fully dedicated, motivated to find innovative solutions, and resilient when seeking novel green ideas (Awan et al, 2019; Zhang et al, 2020). Based on this accumulated knowledge, we propose green psychological climate (GPC) and green work engagement (GWE) as two intervening variables that may amplify the effect of leadership style on employee creativity
Mediating effect of green psychological climate and green work engagement In the preceding discussion, we offered empirical evidence from the extended literature on organizational behavior, in general (e.g., Afsar et al, 2014; Choi et al, 2015; Nohe & Hertel, 2017), and green behavior, in particular (e.g., Aboramadan et al, 2020; Norton et al, 2017; Saleem et al, 2020), to posit the direct associations between green inclusive leadership (GIL), GPC, GWE, and green creativity (GCRT)

Summary

Introduction

Tourism is one of the most valued commercial activities worldwide for how it spurs economic growth. It has a dark side in that it adversely affects the environment, which is becoming a rising concern. The tourism and hospitality sector is one of the most notable contributors to a higher carbon footprint globally (Lenzen et al, 2018). The exponential growth in this ß 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Past findings have underscored that green innovation requires green creativity (GCRT), which, in turn, can be achieved when the leadership team develops and transmits green policies and procedures to their employees that can foster their innovativeness in a proenvironmental manner (Jia et al, 2018; Li et al, 2020; Mittal & Dhar, 2016)

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