Linking Leaders’ Voluntary Workplace Green Behavior and Team Green Innovation: The Mediation Role of Team Green Efficacy

Wenjing Cai, Chun Yang, Bart A. G. Bossink and Jingtao Fu
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Wenjing Cai: School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Chun Yang: School of Public Administration, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Bart A. G. Bossink: Department of Science, Business & Innovation, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jingtao Fu: Management School, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: Given the increasing significance of green innovation, scholars have identified environment-oriented leader behavior as a key antecedent of green innovation in firms. However, despite the fact that previous studies highlight all kinds of benefits of environment-oriented leaders’ voluntary workplace green behavior (VWGB) in and for firms, little is known about how these leaders’ VWGB could affect a firm team’s green product innovation as well as their process innovation. To narrow this research gap, this study theorizes and tests the effect of leaders’ VWGB on their team’s green innovation, as well as the mediation effect of team green efficacy belief on this relationship. Using a time-lagged research design, we collected data from 497 employees and 80 leaders in Chinese manufacturing firms. The results show that leaders’ VWGB directly affects both their team’s green product and process innovation, and facilitates the development of team green efficacy, which in turn stimulates team green innovation. This present study extends the multilevel phenomena by reinforcing the importance of leaders’ VWGB and team green efficacy on team-level green innovation, and provides practical implications on developing leadership for environmentally sustainable innovation.

Keywords: voluntary workplace green behavior; leadership; team green efficacy; green product innovation; green process innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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