Green Leadership and Employee Green Innovation: The Mediating Role of Green Creativity and Environmental Commitment

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between green leadership and employee green innovation and green creativity and employee environmental commitment were tested as parallel mediating mechanisms. A cross-sectional design of quantitative research was used and data were gathered with a structured questionnaire from the employees of environmentally conscious organizations and industries where the employee was engaged in environmental sustainability activities. The measurement of green leadership included the use of existing items that measured leaders' environmental vision, support for environmental initiatives, encouragement of employees' environmentally responsible behaviors, and green creativity, green commitment, and green innovation of employees were measured by previously validated multi-item scales rated on a five-point Likert scale. The proposed model was subjected to pilot testing and data screening, followed by further testing for the model through the process of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results revealed that green leadership significantly and positively directly influenced green creativity, environmental commitment, and green innovation of employees, and that green creativity and environmental commitment partially mediated the relationship between green leadership and green innovation. The age, education level, and tenure of the employees as control variables did not significantly change the pattern of results, and no common method bias was detected. Based on these findings, this research contributes to the body of knowledge on green leadership by introducing two pathways to show how employees' green innovation can be influenced by their leaders' environmental orientations: a creative-cognitive pathway and an affective-motivational pathway, providing practical implications for organizations aiming to increase environmentally innovative behavior among their employees.