Greening for greater meaning: A dynamic examination of the consequences of voluntary employee green behavior

Abstract

The achievement of organizational environmental sustainability relies on voluntary employee green behavior (VEGB). While VEGB has received increasing attention from scholars, little attention has so far been paid to the effects on the actors who exhibit this behavior. The question of whether performing VEGB is an enriching or depleting experience for employees needs more exploration. To address the research gaps, we adopt an enrichment-based perspective, arguing that engaging in VEGB can enrich employees who perform it. Drawing from the worker-centric approach to work meaningfulness, we propose a theoretical framework to examine how engaging in VEGB daily can lead to greater benefits for certain employees. We conducted an experience sampling study involving 114 full-time employees. To test our hypotheses, we employed hierarchical linear modeling. Our findings show that engaging in VEGB is meaningful for employees with higher environmental commitment. Subsequently, the meaningfulness experienced through VEGB improves in-role and extra-role performance (self-reported job performance and helping behavior) on the following workday. We contribute to both employee pro-environmental behavior literature and work meaningfulness literature, and we discuss practical implications for both managers and employees.