Environmentally specific servant leadership and voluntary pro-environmental behavior in the context of green operations: A serial mediation path

Hina Zafar; Feng Tian; Jo Ann Ho; Gaoqi Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1059523

Environmentally specific servant leadership and voluntary pro-environmental behavior in the context of green operations: A serial mediation path

Front Psychol. 2022 Nov 7:13:1059523. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1059523. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hina Zafar^{1

2}, Feng Tian¹, Jo Ann Ho², Gaoqi Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Newcastle Business School, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
² School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
³ Business School, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Green operations of organizations and enhancement of corporate social responsibility hinges upon leaders. This study investigated the influential role performed by environmentally specific servant leadership in provoking voluntary pro-environmental behavior of employees. The findings illuminate a serial chain mediation model that originates as a result of environmentally specific servant leadership and leads toward psychological empowerment, and organizational identity, ultimately leading toward voluntary pro-environmental behavior. Data from the textile sector of Pakistan uncovered that environmentally specific servant leadership prompted the voluntary pro-environmental behavior of employees. Moreover, environmentally specific servant leadership was significantly linked with voluntary pro-environmental behavior through psychological empowerment. The study supports the serial mediation of psychological empowerment and organizational identity in stirring voluntary pro-environmental behavior. An organizational psychological mechanism has been unraveled that can help organizations achieve a high level of sustainability and can serve as a catalyst for organizational green operations.

Keywords: environmentally specific servant leadership; green operations; organizational identity; psychological empowerment; voluntary pro-environmental behavior.