Sustainability and internal communication: Leveraging employee green behaviors

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impacts of internal environmental sustainability communication and green transformational leadership on employees’ green behaviors. By integrating research on internal communication and transformational leadership with relationship management theory and role theory, this study identifies the mediating roles of communal organization-employee relationships and employees’ role clarity. An online survey of hospitality sector employees in the U.S. was conducted. The findings reveal that internal environmental sustainability communication enhances employees’ clarity of their roles in organizations’ environmental sustainability initiatives, which, in turn, promotes their green behaviors. In addition, green transformational leadership not only improves employees’ role clarity but also fosters their communal relationships with organizations, thereby facilitating green behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.