Building employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment

Purpose Mechanisms behind employees’ pro-environmental behaviors have increasingly been attracting scholarly attention. The purpose of this study is to examine how environmentally specific servant leadership contributes to employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (employee OCBE). Design/methodology/approach In this research, employees from resort hotels in Central Vietnam were selected as participants. The data analysis was conducted through structural equation modeling and bootstrapping test. Findings Environmentally specific servant leadership exhibited the positive association with employee OCBE through employee environmental engagement as a mediator. Two moderation mechanisms – organizational support for green behaviors and person-group fit – were also found to serve as enhancers for the effect of environmentally specific servant leadership on employee OCBE. Practical implications The research results provide hospitality organizations with a premise for the focus of servant leadership and organizational support around pro-environmental values. It is also vital for practitioners to build the fit between employees and the organization’s pro-environmental values so as to further promote their positive reaction to environmentally specific servant leadership and engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. Originality/value The present study marks the confluence between environmentally specific servant leadership and employee OCBE research streams and provides a moderated mediation mechanism to shed light on such a relationship.