What triggers environmental sustainability in the organization? Empirical evidence from the cause-and-effect relationship

Noor Ul Hadi, Furqan Rasool and John O. Kuforiji

RAUSP Management Journal, 2025, vol. 60, issue 1, 277-295

Abstract: PurposeThe absence of environmental transformational leadership in many organizations may contribute to environmental destabilization. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact mechanism of environmental transformational leadership on employees’ pro-environmental behaviors.Design/methodology/approachData were randomly collected from employees via self-administered questionnaires, and 216 valid responses were analyzed using the PROCESS Macro Model 4. The measurement instruments used in this study were adapted from previous studies that had been validated via exploratory factor analysis in the context.FindingsThe study found that the inspirational aspect of environmental transformational leadership is beneficial for employees’ autonomous environmental motivation and pro-environmental behaviors. These findings confirm that transformational leadership is a multidimensional, reflective-formative construct.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study contributes to the environmental sustainability literature by empirically examining the proximate effect of ETL on AEM in nonprofit, environmentally sustainable organizations. By empirically testing the hypothesized relationship, this study advances the literature, which has so far lacked empirical validation in this context. Furthermore, the study integrates two distinct theoretical perspectives, transformational leadership and self-determination, into a unified framework, confirming its applicability in the field of environmental sustainability. The findings also confirm that ETL is a higher-order reflective–formative construct, thus addressing a gap in the conceptualization of leadership constructs in sustainability studies.Practical implicationsAs the inspirational aspect of environmental transformational leadership is positively linked to employees’ pro-environmental behaviors, organizations should prioritize identifying and hiring leaders who demonstrate strong inspirational environmental motivation. To become more ecosystem-friendly, human resource departments in environmentally sustainable organizations should develop selection criteria that emphasize this attribute when evaluating managerial candidates.Social implicationsBy encouraging environmental transformational leadership, organizations can foster a culture of sustainability that extends beyond the workplace, thereby contributing to broader societal awareness and advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to environmental protection.Originality/valueThere has been a lack of consensus among scholars on whether, and if so, how environmental transformational leadership is effective in triggering environmental sustainability in organizations.

Keywords: Environmental transformational leadership; Autonomous environmental motivation; Environmental inspirational motivation; Employees’ pro-environmental behaviors; UN SDGs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rauspp:rausp-11-2023-0242

DOI: 10.1108/RAUSP-11-2023-0242

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