Drawing on a multilevel model of motivation in work groups and a functionalist perspective of citizenship and socially responsible behaviors, we developed and tested a multilevel model of voluntary workplace green behavior that explicates some of the reasons why employees voluntarily engage in green behavior at work. For a sample of 325 office workers organized into 80 work groups in three firms, we found that conscientiousness and moral reflectiveness were associated with the voluntary workplace green behavior of group leaders and individual group members. Furthermore, we found a direct relationship between leader green behavior and the green behavior of individual subordinates as well as an indirect relationship mediated by green advocacy within work groups. Our theory and findings shed new light on the psychological and social conditions and processes that shape voluntary workplace green behavior in organizational settings and suggest implications for organizations striving to improve their social responsibility and environmental sustainability.
AguileraR. V.RuppD. E.WilliamsC. A.GanapathiJ.2007. Putting the S back in corporate social responsibility: A multilevel theory of social change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 32: 836-863.
2.
AguinisH.GlavasA.2012. What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38: 932-968.
3.
AnderssonL. M.JacksonS. E.RussellS. V.2013. Greening organizational behavior: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34: 151-155.
4.
Aoyagi-UsuiM.VinkenH.KuribayashiA.2003. Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors: An international comparison. Research in Human Ecology, 10: 23-31.
5.
AquinoK. F.ReedA.II. 2002. The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83: 1423-1440.
6.
AshforthB. E.KreinerG. E.1999. “How can you do it?”: Dirty work and the challenge of constructing a positive identity. Academy of Management Review, 24: 413-434.
7.
BambergS.MöserG.2007. Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27: 14-25.
8.
BarrickM. R.MountM. K.2000. Select on conscientiousness and emotional stability. In LockeE. A. (Ed.), Handbook of principles of organizational behavior: 15-28. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
9.
BarrickM. R.MountM. K.LiN.2013. The theory of purposeful work behavior: The role of personality, higher-order goals, and job characteristics. Academy of Management Review, 38: 132-153.
10.
BarrickM. R.StewartG. L.PiotrowskiM.2002. Personality and job performance: Test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87: 43-51.
11.
BassB. M.1985. Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.
12.
BauerT. N.ErdoganB.TaylorS.2012. Creating and maintaining environmentally sustainable organizations: Recruitment and on-boarding. In JacksonS. E.OnesD.DilchertS. (Eds.), Managing human resources for environmental sustainability: 222-240. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
13.
BeckerT. E.1998. Integrity in organizations: Beyond honesty and conscientiousness. Academy of Management Review, 23: 154-161.
14.
Bissing-OlsonM. J.IyerA.FieldingK. S.ZacherH.2013. Relationships between daily affect and pro-environmental behavior at work: The moderating role of pro-environmental attitude. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34: 156-175.
15.
BlieseP. D.2002. Multilevel random coefficient modeling in organizational research: Examples using SAS and S-PLUS. In DrasgowF.SchmittN. (Eds.), Modeling in organizational research: Measuring and analyzing behavior in organizations: 401-445. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
16.
BoiralO.2009. Greening the corporation through organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 87: 221-236.
17.
BoiralO.PailléP.2012. Organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: Measurement and validation. Journal of Business Ethics, 109: 431-445.
18.
BommerW. H.MilesE. W.GroverS. L.2003. Does one good turn deserve another? Coworker influences on employee citizenship. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24: 181-196.
19.
BrislinR. W.1990. Applied cross-cultural psychology: An introduction. In BrislinR. W. (Ed.), Applied cross-cultural psychology: 9-33. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
20.
CampbellD. T.FiskeD. W.1959. Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 56: 81-105.
21.
ChanD.1998. Functional relations among constructs in the same content domain at different levels of analysis: A typology of composition models. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83: 234-246.
22.
ChenG.KanferR.2006. Toward a systems theory of motivated behavior in work teams. Research in Organizational Behavior, 27: 223-267.
23.
ChenG.SharmaP. N.EdingerS. K.ShapiroD. L.FarhJ. L.2011. Motivating and demotivating forces in teams: Cross-level influences of empowering leadership and relationship conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96: 541-557.
24.
ChiaburuD. S.HarrisonD. A.2008. Do peers make the place? Conceptual synthesis and meta-analysis of coworker effects on perceptions, attitudes, OCBs, and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93: 1082-1103.
25.
ChiaburuD. S.OhI.BerryC. M.LiN.GardnerR. G.2011. The five-factor model of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96: 1140-1166.
26.
CialdiniR.GoldsteinN.2004. Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55: 591-621.
27.
CialdiniR. B.RenoR. R.KallgrenC. A.1990. A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58: 1015-1026.
28.
CollinsJ. M.SchmidtF. L.1993. Personality, integrity, and white collar crime: A construct validity study. Personnel Psychology, 46: 295-311.
DeRueD. S.NahrgangJ. D.WellmanN.HumphreyS. E.2011. Trait and behavioral theories of leadership: An integration and meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Personnel Psychology, 64: 7-52.
31.
D’MelloS.KleinR.OnesD. S.DilchertS.2011. The relationship between education level, income, and environmentalism: A meta-analysis. In DilchertS. (Chair), Focusing on employees to achieve environmentally sustainable organizations. Symposium conducted at the annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago.
32.
D’MelloS.OnesD. S.KleinR.WiernikB. M.DilchertS.2011. Do greener companies have better organizational and financial performance? An empirical investigation. Poster presented at the University of Minnesota Student Symposium on Sustainability, Minneapolis, MN.
33.
DonnellanM. B.OswaldF. L.BairdB. M.LucasR. E.2006. The Mini-IPIP scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the Big Five factors of personality. Psychological Assessment, 18: 192-203.
34.
DragoniL.2005. Understanding the emergence of state goal orientation in organizational work groups: The role of leadership and multilevel climate perceptions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90: 1084-1095.
35.
FeinbergM.WillerR.2013. The moral roots of environmental attitudes. Psychological Science, 24: 56-62.
36.
FeldmanD. C.1984. The development and enforcement of group norms. Academy of Management Review, 9: 47-53.
37.
FiskeD. W.1949. Consistency of the factorial structures of personality ratings from different sources. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 44: 329-344.
38.
FlanneryB. L.MayD. R.2000. Environmental ethical decision making in the U.S. metal-finishing industry. Academy of Management Journal, 43: 642-646.
39.
FornellC.LarckerD. F.1981. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18: 39-50.
40.
FreseM.FayD.2001. Personal initiative (PI): A concept for work in the 21st century. Research in Organizational Behavior, 23: 133-188.
41.
FunderD. C.2001. Personality. Annual Review of Psychology, 52: 197-221.
42.
GelfandM. J.LeslieL. M.KellerK.de DreuC.2012. Conflict cultures in organizations: How leaders shape conflict cultures and their organizational-level consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97: 1131-1147.
43.
GeorgeJ. M.JonesG. R.1997. Organizational spontaneity in context. Human Performance, 10: 153-170.
44.
GibbonsA. M.RuppD. E.2009. Dimension consistency as an individual difference: A new (old) perspective on the assessment center construct validity debate. Journal of Management, 35: 1154-1180.
45.
GlobeScan. 2012. Greendex 2012: Consumer choice and the environment: A worldwide tracking survey. Toronto, ON, Canada: Author.
46.
GoldbergL. R.1999. A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower level facets of several five-factor models. In MervieldeI.DearyI.De FruytF.OstendorfF. (Eds.), Personality psychology in Europe: 7-28. Tilburg, the Netherlands: Tilburg University Press.
47.
GoodmanP. S.1974. An examination of the referents used in the evaluation of pay. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 12: 170-195.
48.
GösslingT.2003. The price of morality: An analysis of personality, moral behavior, and social rules in economic terms. Journal of Business Ethics, 45: 121-131.
49.
HaidtJ.2001. The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108: 814-834.
50.
HinkinT. R.1995. A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations. Journal of Management, 21: 967-988.
51.
HinkinT. R.1998. A brief tutorial on the development of measures for use in survey questionnaires. Organizational Research Methods, 1: 104-121.
52.
HittM. A.BeamishP. W.JacksonS. E.MathieuJ. E.2007. Building theoretical and empirical bridges across levels: Multilevel research in management. Academy of Management Journal, 50: 1385-1399.
53.
HomburgA.StolbergA.2006. Explaining pro-environmental behavior with a cognitive theory of stress. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 26: 1-14.
54.
HuL.BentlerP. M.1999. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6: 1-55.
55.
IliesR.FulmerI. S.SpitzmullerM.JohnsonM. D.2009. Personality and citizenship behavior: The mediating role of job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94: 945-959.
56.
IliesR.NahrgangJ. D.MorgesonF. P.2007. Leader-member exchange and citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92: 269-277.
57.
IliesR.PengA. C.SavaniK.DimotakisN.2013. Guilty and helpful: An emotion-based reparatory model of voluntary work behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98: 1051-1059.
58.
IliesR.ScottB. A.JudgeT. A.2006. The interactive effects of personal traits and experienced states on intraindividual patterns of citizenship behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 49: 561-575.
59.
JacksonS. E.2012. Building empirical foundations to inform the future practice of environmental sustainability. In JacksonS. E.OnesD.DilchertS. (Eds.), Managing human resources for environmental sustainability: 416-432. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
60.
KamdarD.Van DyneL.2007. The joint effects of personality and workplace social exchange relationships in predicting task performance and citizenship performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92: 1286-1298.
61.
KarkR.ShamirB.ChenG.2003. The two faces of transformational leadership: Empowerment and dependency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88: 246-255.
62.
KidwellR. E.MossholderK. W.BennettN.1997. Cohesiveness and organizational citizenship behavior: A multilevel analysis using work groups and individuals. Journal of Management, 23: 775-793.
63.
KirkmanB. L.RosenB.TeslukP. E.GibsonC. B.2006. Enhancing the transfer of computer-assisted training proficiency in geographically distributed teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91: 706-716.
64.
KleinH. J.AustinJ. T.CooperJ. T.2008. Goal choice and decision processes. In KanferR.ChenG.PritchardR. (Eds.), Work motivation: Past, present, and future: 101-150. Abingdon, England: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
65.
KleinK. J.ConnA. B.SmithD. B.SorraJ. S.2001. Is everyone in agreement? An exploration of within-group agreement in employee perceptions of the work environment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86: 3-16.
66.
KleinR. M.D’MelloS.WiernickB. M.2012. Demographics and employee sustainability. In JacksonS. E.OnesD.DilchertS. (Eds.), Managing human resources for environmental sustainability: 117-154. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
67.
KohlbergL.1981. The philosophy of moral development. San Francisco: Harper and Row.
68.
KrishnanV. R.2002. Transformational leadership and value system congruence. International Journal of Value-Based Management, 15: 19-33.
69.
KrullJ. L.MacKinnonD. P.2001. Multilevel modeling of individual and group level mediated effects. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 36: 249-277.
70.
KulikC. T.AmbroseM. L.1992. Personal and situational determinants of referent choice. Academy of Management Review, 17: 212-237.
71.
LamS. S. K.ChenX. P.SchaubroeckJ.2002. Participative decision making and employee performance: The moderating effects of allocentrism/idiocentrism and efficacy. Academy of Management Journal, 45: 905-914.
72.
LavelleJ. J.2010. What motivates OCB? Insights from the volunteerism literature. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31: 918-923.
73.
LeeK.AllenN. J.2002. Organizational citizenship behavior and workplace deviance: The role of affect and cognitions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87: 131-142.
74.
LimB. C.PloyhartR. E.2004. Transformational leadership: Relations to the five-factor model and team performance in typical and maximum contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89: 610-621.
75.
LindellM. K.WhitneyD. J.2001. Accounting for common method variance in cross-sectional research designs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86: 114-121.
76.
MathieuJ. E.ZajacD. M.1990. A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychological Bulletin, 2: 171-194.
77.
MayerD.NishiiL.SchneiderB.GoldsteinH.2007. The precursors and products of justice climates: Group leader antecedents and employee attitudinal consequences. Personnel Psychology, 60: 929-963.
78.
McNeelyB. L.MeglinoB. M.1994. The role of dispositional and situational antecedents in prosocial organizational behavior: An examination of the intended beneficiaries of prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79: 836-844.
79.
MoninB.SawyerP. J.MarquezM. J.2008. The rejection of moral rebels: Resenting those who do the right thing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95: 76-93.
80.
MuthénL. K.MuthénB.2010. Mplus user’s guide. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén and Muthén.
NgT. W. H.FeldmanD. C.2009. How broadly does education contribute to job performance?Personnel Psychology, 62: 89-134.
84.
OnesD. S.DilchertS.2012. Employee green behaviors. In JacksonS. E.OnesD.DilchertS. (Eds.), Managing human resources for environmental sustainability: 85-116. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
85.
OnesD. S.DilchertS.2013. Measuring, understanding, and influencing employee green behaviors. In HuffmanA. H.KleinS. R. (Eds.), Greening organizations: Driving change with I-O psychology: 115-148. New York: Routledge Academic.
86.
OrganD. W.RyanK.1995. A meta-analytic review of attitudinal and dispositional predictors of organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology, 48: 775-802.
87.
OsbaldistonR.SchottJ.2012. Environmental sustainability and behavioral science: Meta-analysis of pro-environmental behavior. Environment and Behavior, 44: 257-299.
88.
PennerL. A.MidiliA. R.KegelmeyerJ.1997. Beyond job attitudes: A personality and social psychology perspective on the causes of organizational citizenship behavior. Human Performance, 10: 111-131.
89.
PituchK. A.StapletonL. M.KangJ. Y.2006. A comparison of single sample and bootstrap methods to assess mediation in cluster randomized trials. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 41: 367-400.
90.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. M.LeeJ.PodsakoffN. P.2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88: 879-903.
91.
PreacherK. J.ZyphurM. J.ZhangZ.2010. A general multilevel SEM framework for assessing multilevel mediation. Psychological Methods, 15: 209-233.
92.
RamusC. A.KillmerA. B.2007. Corporate greening through prosocial extrarole behaviours: A conceptual framework for employee motivation. Business Strategy and the Environment, 16: 554-570.
93.
RamusC. A.StegerU.2000. The roles of supervisory support behaviors and environmental policy in employee “ecoinitiatives” at leading-edge European companies. Academy of Management Journal, 43: 605-626.
94.
RenwickD. W. S.RedmanT.MaguireS.2013. Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Review, 15: 1-14.
95.
ReynoldsS. J.2008. Moral attentiveness: Who pays attention to the moral aspects of life?Journal of Applied Psychology, 93: 1027-1041.
96.
RobertsonJ. L.BarlingJ.2013. Greening organizations through leaders’ influence on employees’ pro-environmental behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34: 176-194.
97.
RodgersR.HunterJ. E.RogersD.1993. Influence of top management commitment on management program success. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78: 151-155.
98.
RussoM. V.HarrisonN. S.2005. Organizational design and environmental performance: Clues from the electronics industry. Academy of Management Journal, 48: 582-593.
99.
SalvaggioA. N.SchneiderB.NishiiL. H.MayerD. M.RameshA.LyonJ. S.2007. Manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and service climate: Test of a model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92: 1741-1750.
100.
ShamirB.ZakayE.BreininE.PopperM.1998. Correlates of charismatic leader behavior in military units: Subordinates’ attitudes, unit characteristics, and superiors’ appraisals of leader performance. Academy of Management Journal, 41: 387-409.
101.
SingerJ. D.1998. Using SAS PROC MIXED to fit multilevel models, hierarchical models, and individual growth models. Journal of Education and Behavioral Statistics, 24: 323-355.
102.
Society for Human Resource Management. 2008. SHRM survey brief: Green workplace. Alexandria, VA: Author.
103.
StarikM.RandsG. P.1995. Weaving an integrated web: Multilevel and multisystem perspectives of ecologically sustainable organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20: 908-935.
104.
SternP. C.2000. Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56: 407-424.
105.
StringerL.2009. The green workplace: Sustainable strategies that benefit employees, the environment, and the bottom line. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
106.
TreviñoL. K.1986. Ethical decision-making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review, 11: 601-617.
107.
TuzzolinoF.ArmandiB. R.1981. A need–hierarchy framework for assessing corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 6: 21-28.
108.
UnsworthK. L.DmitrievaA.AndiasolaE.2013. Changing behavior: Increasing the effectiveness of workplace interventions in creating pro-environmental behavior change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34: 211-229.
109.
Van DyneL.GrahamJ. W.DieneschR. M.1994. Organizational citizenship behavior: Construct redefinition, measurement and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 765-802.
110.
Van VelsorE.QuinnL.2012. Leadership and environmental sustainability. In JacksonS. E.OnesD.DilchertS. (Eds.), Managing human resources for environmental sustainability: 241-262. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
111.
WagnerJ. A.1995. Studies of individualism-collectivism: Effects on cooperation in groups. Academy of Management Journal, 38: 152-172.
112.
WalkerL. J.2002. The model and the measure: An appraisal of the Minnesota approach to moral development. Journal of Moral Education, 31: 353-367.
113.
YaffeT.KarkR.2011. Leading by example: The case of leader OCB. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96: 806-826.
114.
YammarinoF. J.DansereauF.KennedyC. J.2001. A multiple-level multidimensional approach to leadership: Viewing leadership through an elephant’s eye. Organizational Dynamics, 29: 149-163.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
