HOW DOES GREEN INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL INFLUENCE EMPLOYEE PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR? THE MEDIATING ROLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Hung-Yi Liao,Chin-Tien Hsu,Hsiao-Chi Chiang

doi:10.32890/ijms2021.28.2.2

Hung-Yi Liao, Chin-Tien Hsu + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.32890/ijms2021.28.2.2

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Abstract

The issue of environmental protection in the twenty-first century has played a relatively critical role in business management. Companies developing green intellectual capital can increase their competitive advantage and may influence employees’ attitudes and behavior regarding environmental protection. This research explored the mediating effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the relationship between green intellectual capital and employees’ proenvironmental behavior. Data was obtained from surveys collected from 461 employees in the high-tech industries in Taiwan. The results revealed that green human capital and green relational capital were positively related to the perception of CSR. Moreover, the perception of CSR mediated the associations between green human capital, green relational capital and employees’ pro-environmental behavior. Implications of the findings, including limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Highlights

The issue of environmental protection in the twenty-first century has played a relatively critical role in business management, corporate environmental management and green innovation which have become increasingly important (Chuang & Huang, 2018)
Our results revealed that the perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) was a mediator in the relationship between green human capital (GHC) as well as green relational capital (GRC) and employees’ pro-environmental behavior
The results revealed that when we did not control the other types of Green intellectual capital (GIC), green structural capital (GSC) had a significantly positive effect on the perception of CSR (β = 0.63, p < 0.001)

Summary

Introduction

The issue of environmental protection in the twenty-first century has played a relatively critical role in business management, corporate environmental management and green innovation which have become increasingly important (Chuang & Huang, 2018). Prior studies have indicated that intellectual capital in environmental management and green innovation (such as green innovation performance) has a positive impact on the competitive advantage of enterprises (Chen et al, 2006). These studies have focused substantially on intellectual capital, while fewer studies have examined intellectual capital in relation to green innovation and environmental management (Chen, 2008), and the relationship between this type of intellectual capital and individual perception or behavior (Mehra, 2018). We adopted Chen’s (2008) classification of GIC, categorized into green human capital (GHC), green structural capital (GSC), and green relational capital (GRC), to explore whether the three types of capital have positive effects on employees’ perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their pro-environmental behaviors

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