Interrelations Between Ethical Leadership, Green Psychological Climate, and Organizational Environmental Citizenship Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model

Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan,Sharjeel Saleem,Moazzam Ali,Du Jianguo,Muhammad Usman

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01977

Abstract

Synthesizing theories of ethical leadership, psychological climate, pro-environmental behavior, and gender, first, we proposed and tested a model linking supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior via a green psychological climate. Then, we tested the moderating effect of gender on the indirect (via a green psychological environment) relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Time-lagged (three waves, 2 months apart) survey data were collected from 447 employees in various manufacturing and service sector firms operating in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, bootstrapping, and multigroup techniques to test the hypothesized relationships. The results showed a positive relationship between employee ratings of supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Moreover, a green psychological climate mediates the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Importantly, the multigroup analysis revealed that gender moderates the indirect relationship (via green psychological climate) between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. The study carries useful practical implications for policymakers and managers concerned about environmental sustainability.

Highlights

Environmental degradation has become a serious threat for the inhabitants of our world, and business organizations are considered as one of the major contributors toward this threat (Stern, 2011; Swim et al, 2011, 2019; Aguinis and Glavas, 2012; Inoue and Alfaro-Barrantes, 2015; Peng and Lee, 2019)
To contribute to filling in these gaps, we suggest that a psychological green climate – “employees’ perceptions and interpretations of their organization’s policies, procedures, and practices regarding environmental sustainability” (Norton et al, 2012, p. 212) – mediates this link between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behaviors (OCBEs)
Several scholars have suggested that environmental sustainability is non-obligatory in nature (Barnett et al, 2005; Testa et al, 2016; Tian and Robertson, 2019; Woosnam et al, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

Environmental degradation has become a serious threat for the inhabitants of our world, and business organizations are considered as one of the major contributors toward this threat (Stern, 2011; Swim et al, 2011, 2019; Aguinis and Glavas, 2012; Inoue and Alfaro-Barrantes, 2015; Peng and Lee, 2019). Past research has made invaluable contributions by foregrounding the role that formal mechanisms, such as environmental safety and health management systems, monitoring activities, and operational control, play in accentuating social responsibility and environmental sustainability (Darnall and Edwards, 2006; Darnall et al, 2008; Heras-Saizarbitoria and Boiral, 2013; Leung and Rosenthal, 2019; Peng and Lee, 2019). There have been growing calls for identifying leadership behaviors that encourage employees’ pro-environmental behaviors and reduce business organizations’ detrimental effects on the environment, without sacrificing profit (Aguilera et al, 2007; Boiral et al, 2015; Afsar et al, 2016; Saeed et al, 2018; Testa et al, 2018; Suganthi, 2019). We predict that supervisors’ ethical leadership positively affects organizational environmental citizenship behaviors (OCBEs)

Methods

Results

Conclusion