Behaving green.. who takes the lead? The role of responsible leadership, psychological ownership, and green moral identity in motivating employees green behaviors

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in the organizational and individual factors that affect employees green behaviors. However, it is necessary to examine their interactive effect in order to help clarify the mechanism by which such behaviors are developed and how they could be better reinforced. To address this issue, we have developed and tested a dynamic model of the interactions among responsible leadership, psychological ownership, and green moral identity in predicting employees green behavior. Empirical data were collected from 292 employees working in one of the holding companies, Egypt. The results support the hypothesized model, in which responsible leadership is a significant predictor of employees green behaviors. Moreover, it was found that psychological ownership significantly mediates the relationship between responsible leadership and such behaviors, while green moral identity significantly moderated that relationship. The theoretical and managerial implications of results are discussed. Primarly, organizations should reinforce leaders’ sense of commitment toward protecting the environment. In turn, leaders should instil the concept of environmentalism as a continuous way of life in workplace culture.