Role of Responsible Leadership for Organizational Citizenship Behavior for the Environment in Light of Psychological Ownership and Employee Environmental Commitment: A Moderated Mediation Model

Ali Abbas; Ye Chengang; Sufan Zhuo; Bilal; Shahid Manzoor; Irfan Ullah; Yasir Hayat Mughal

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.756570

Role of Responsible Leadership for Organizational Citizenship Behavior for the Environment in Light of Psychological Ownership and Employee Environmental Commitment: A Moderated Mediation Model

Front Psychol. 2022 Feb 8:12:756570. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.756570. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ali Abbas¹, Ye Chengang¹, Sufan Zhuo¹, Bilal², Shahid Manzoor³, Irfan Ullah⁴, Yasir Hayat Mughal⁵

Affiliations

¹ Business School, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China.
² School of Accounting, Hubei University of Economics, Wuhan, China.
³ Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁴ School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
⁵ Department of Health Administration, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Qassim University, Al Bukayriyah, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The world is looking toward organizations for social responsibility to contribute to a sustainable environment. Employees' organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) is a voluntary environmental-oriented behavior that is important for organizations' environmental performance. Based on social learning theory, this study examined the effects of responsible leadership in connection with OCBE by using a sample of 520 employees in the manufacturing and service sectors in China including engine manufacturing, petroleum plants, banking, and insurance sector organizations. Further, the roles of psychological ownership and employee environmental commitment were used as mediators and moderators simultaneously. The direct, mediation, and moderation model results exposed a positive relationship between responsible leadership and OCBE via employee psychological ownership and employee environmental commitment. The study also revealed that the indirect effect is stronger when employees hold a higher employee environmental commitment. The theoretical and practical implications for environmental sustainability in respect of organizations as well as future research directions are discussed.

Keywords: China; employee environmental commitment; organizational citizenship behavior for the environment; psychological ownership; responsible leadership.