Promoting employees’ pro‐environmental behaviour through empowering leadership: The roles of psychological ownership, empowerment role identity, and environmental self‐identity

Abstract

This study develops a theoretical model to investigate when and why empowering leadership promotes employees’ pro‐environmental behaviour (PEB). Synthesising psychological ownership theory and role identity theory, we propose that empowering leadership positively affects the employees’ PEB and that this relationship is mediated by psychological ownership. Furthermore, we examine the moderating roles of empowerment role identity and environmental self‐identity in this relationship. By employing 203 leader–follower dyads as a sample, we find that empowering leadership is positively related to employees’ PEB and that employees’ psychological ownership mediates this relationship. Besides, we find that empowerment role identity plays a moderating role in the relationship between empowering leadership and employees’ psychological ownership such that the relationship is positive and significant when empowerment role identity is high but not significant when it is low. Finally, we observe that environmental self‐identity moderates the relationship between employees’ psychological ownership and PEB such that the relationship is positive and significant when environmental self‐identity is high, but not significant when it is low. Practically, we offer new insight into how and when organisations can leverage the positive effect of empowering leadership in the pursuit of promoting employees’ PEB.

Linking Ethical Leadership to Followers’ Knowledge Sharing: Mediating Role of Psychological Ownership and Moderating Role of Professional Commitment

“…According to Bandura and Hall (2018) , direct and indirect interactions can help employees develop a sense of accountability, such as seeing ethical leaders holding individuals responsible for their accomplishments as well as the method by which those successes were obtained. The norms for social conduct in the organization were established based on observations and interactions between employees ( Cheng et al, 2021 ). In addition, employees are held responsible for their own actions ( Podsakoff et al, 2003 ).…”

Role of Responsible Leadership for Organizational Citizenship Behavior for the Environment in Light of Psychological Ownership and Employee Environmental Commitment: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…Some studies have conceptualized the four categories of psychological ownership as self-identity, self-efficacy, belongingness, and accountability ( Pierce et al, 2001 , 2003 ; Avey et al, 2009 ). The sense of psychological ownership toward organization make employees more proactive, caring, and attached to the organization with the sagacity of responsibility ( Cheng et al, 2021 ). The responsible leadership style is based upon stakeholder relations and ethical consideration.…”

The Effect of Organizational Innovation Climate on Employee Innovative Behavior: The Role of Psychological Ownership and Task Interdependence

“…Similarly, the sense of commitment can also be incurred by the feeling of ownership and organizational support, facilitating employees to engage in innovation in the workplace ( Liu F. et al, 2019 ). With a feeling of psychological ownership, employees become more attached to, protective of, and responsible for their organizations ( Pierce et al, 2001 , 2003 ; Van Dyne and Pierce, 2004 ; Liu et al, 2012 ), leading to a series of positive impacts on employees, for example, caring more about organizational innovation and improving work efficiency through hard work and innovative behavior ( Wagner et al, 2003 ; Cheng et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Employees feel psychologically intertwined with their organizations and spontaneously internalize innovation as their own goals. The sense of psychological ownership often induces satisfaction with their job ( Schulte et al, 2006 ; Avey et al, 2012 ) and is accompanied by a sense of responsibility, proactiveness, and organization-based self-esteem ( Liu et al, 2012 ; Cheng et al, 2021 ) to seek creative solutions to problems and foster innovation behavior accordingly ( Liu F. et al, 2019 ; Leyer et al, 2021 ). Meanwhile, prior studies have shown that the organizational innovation climate fulfills the employees’ needs for a sense of belonging ( Hammond et al, 2011 ; Übius et al, 2013 ).…”