The Roles of Cognitive and Affective Factors on Employees’ Current and Future Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Abstract

The current study investigated the cognitive and affective factors driving employees’ pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) in organizations to address a critical gap in sustainability research. Specifically, the roles of anticipated guilt, subjective norms (SNs), and the warm glow effect in shaping current and future green behaviors were examined through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings demonstrated that anticipated guilt was the strongest predictor of PEBs, followed by SNs. The warm glow effect was also revealed to partially mediate the relationship between current and future PEBs, which offered alternative insights into the long-term sustainability of green practices. Resultantly, the findings contributed to the theory of planned behavior and provided practical implications for organizations seeking to foster employees’ continuous environmental commitment while advancing the understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying sustained workplace PEBs.