OCBE mediating the effect of Perceived Organizational Support and Environmental Concerns on Environmental Performance at employee level

Abstract

This study examines the importance of organizational citizenship behavior directed towards the environment (OCBE) as a mediating variable. Environmental concerns of employees are expected to have a positive effect on environmental performance (Temminck, Mearns & Fruhen, 2015; Yusliza, Ramayah, Faezah & Khalid, 2020) and that this effect is mediated by OCBE. Subsequently, the social exchange theory (SET) expects perceived organizational support for environmental behavior (POSE) to have a positive effect on environmental performance (Darolia, Kumari & Darolia, 2010) and that this effect is also mediated by OCBE (Netra, & Sintaasih, 2019). This study attempts to answer the following question: i.e., can high levels of involvement in environmental sustainability increase employee’s OCBE and environmental performance? To answer this question, an online questionnaire has been set out among Dutch employees (N = 128). As expected, environmental concern increases OCBE and OCBE increases environmental performance. Moreover, OCBE mediates the relationship between environmental concerns and environmental performance. Unexpectedly, POSE does not influence OCBE, nor environmental performance. Similarly, no mediation effect of POSE via OCBE on environmental performance was found. To improve an organizations’ environmental performance, it is advised to transform the environmental concern of employees into OCBE in the workplace.