Green policies and customer incivility: How organizational green efforts influence employee support and behaviors

Abstract

The current study integrates signaling and social exchange theories to explore how customer incivility and organizational green efforts affect employee behavioral intentions (i.e., organizational green policy support and green organizational citizenship behavior). Study 1 finds increased organizational green policy support in employees regardless of customer incivility levels when green efforts are present (vs. absent). Study 2 reveals that in the presence (vs. absence) of green efforts, customer incivility does not affect employees' green organizational citizenship behavior, whereas, in their absence, high incivility leads to reduced green organizational citizenship behavior. This study enhances understanding of the interplay between customer incivility, organizational green efforts, and employee behaviors. It also provides practical insights into the necessity of equipping employees with supportive resources to effectively implement corporate social responsibility initiatives, particularly in situations where they may encounter consumer backlash, ensuring this does not deter their engagement in extra-role behaviors.