How Does Environmentally Specific Servant Leadership Fuel Employees’ Low-Carbon Behavior? The Role of Environmental Self-Accountability and Power Distance Orientation

Yuhuan Xia, Yubo Liu, Changlin Han, Yang Gao and Yuanyuan Lan
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Yuhuan Xia: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Yubo Liu: School of Business, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
Changlin Han: School of Business, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
Yang Gao: School of Business, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
Yuanyuan Lan: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Environmental problems caused by excessive carbon emissions are becoming increasingly prominent and have received heightened attention in recent years. Encouraging people to adopt low-carbon behavior to reduce carbon emissions is desirable. Based on social learning theory, we developed and tested a moderated mediation model to investigate when and how environmentally specific servant (ESS) leadership impacts employees’ low-carbon behavior (i.e., private low-carbon behavior and public low-carbon behavior). We tested our theoretical framework with a sample of 483 subordinates and their direct supervisors working in northern China. The results indicate that ESS leadership is positively related to employees’ low-carbon behavior, and that environmental self-accountability plays a mediating role in this relationship. In addition, power distance orientation strengthens the direct effects of ESS leadership on employees’ environmental self-accountability and low-carbon behavior, as well as the indirect effect of ESS leadership on private low-carbon behavior via environmental self-accountability. Our findings contribute to the literature surrounding ESS leadership and low-carbon behavior, and help to promote green development and thus achieve the goals of carbon neutrality and decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.

Keywords: carbon neutrality; environmentally specific servant leadership; environmental self-accountability; power distance orientation; low-carbon behavior; social learning theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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