Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Critical influencing factors of employees’ green behavior: three-stage hybrid fuzzy DEMATEL–ISM–MICMAC approach

  • Published:
Environment, Development and Sustainability Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The worsening of environmental pollution has compelled industrial organizations to implement improvements across the board and work to inspire staff to engage in active green behavior. However, the majority of recent studies are restricted to a certain perspective, and there is a dearth of study on the variables influencing employees’ green behavior in general. This research is grounded in a comprehensive viewpoint. Experts evaluate the relevant aspects using fuzzy language, and they combine their individual judgements using the central ordered weighted operator to get a more scientific conclusion. The outcomes of expert judgment are then examined using a variety of analytical techniques, including decision-making trail and evaluation laboratory method, interpretative structural model, and MICMAC Matrix, to identify the critical variables that influence employees’ adoption of environmentally friendly behavior. The findings indicate that the most important variables impacting workers’ green behavior are employee motivation, values, and responsible leadership. The attitudes, practices, and leadership philosophies of leaders regarding green conduct have an impact on employee motivation and values. The enterprise’s sustainable development idea is also shown to be impacted by leaders’ attitudes toward green conduct in a number of other areas, including the organizational environment, organizational and human resource management, and other areas. All of these elements have an impact on employees’ values and drive to adopt green practices, either internally or outside. This research can assist businesses in identifying the critical influencing elements that impact workers’ green behavior and provide focused recommendations to enhance employee green behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

References

  • Afsar, B., Badir, Y., & Kiani, U. S. (2016). Linking spiritual leadership and employee pro-environmental behavior: The influence of workplace spirituality, intrinsic motivation, and environmental passion. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 45, 79–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Afsar, B., Maqsoom, A., Shahjehan, A., Afridi, S. A., Nawaz, A., & Fazliani, H. (2019). Responsible leadership and employee’s proenvironmental behavior: The role of organizational commitment, green shared vision, and internal environmental locus of control. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(1), 297–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmed, M., Zehou, S., Raza, S. A., Qureshi, M. A., & Yousufi, S. Q. (2020). Impact of CSR and environmental triggers on employee green behavior: The mediating effect of employee well-being. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(5), 2225–2239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Algarni, M. A., Ali, M., Albort-Morant, G., Leal-Rodríguez, A. L., Latan, H., Ali, I., & Ullah, S. (2022). Make green live clean Linking adaptive capability and environmental behavior with financial performance through corporate sustainability performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 346, 131156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • AlSuwaidi, M., Eid, R., & Agag, G. (2021). Understanding the link between CSR and employee green behaviour. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 46, 50–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Swidi, A. K., Gelaidan, H. M., & Saleh, R. M. (2021). The joint impact of green human resource management leadership and organizational culture on employees green behaviour and organisational environmental performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 316, 128112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bissing-Olson, M. J., Fielding, K. S., & Iyer, A. (2016). Experiences of pride not guilt predict pro-environmental behavior when pro-environmental descriptive norms are more positive. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 45, 145–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carfora, V., Caso, D., Sparks, P., & Conner, M. (2017). Moderating effects of pro-environmental self-identity on pro-environmental intentions and behaviour: A multi-behaviour study. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 53, 92–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darvishmotevali, M., & Altinay, L. (2022). Green HRM, environmental awareness and green behaviors: The moderating role of servant leadership. Tourism Management, 88, 104401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das, A. K., Biswas, S. R., Abdul Kader Jilani, M. M., & Uddin, M. A. (2019). Corporate environmental strategy and voluntary environmental behavior—mediating effect of psychological green climate. Sustainability., 11(11), 3123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dumont, J., Shen, J., & Deng, X. (2017). Effects of green HRM practices on employee workplace green behavior: The role of psychological green climate and employee green values. Human Resource Management, 56(4), 613–627.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felin, T., Foss, N. J., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). The micro foundations movement in strategy and organization theory. Academy of Management Annals, 9(1), 575–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng, X., Wei, C., & Liu, Q. (2018). EDAS method for extended hesitant fuzzy linguistic multi-criteria decision making. International Journal of Fuzzy Systems, 20(8), 2470–2483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gergin, R. E., Peker, İ, & Kısa, A. C. G. (2022). Supplier selection by integrated IFDEMATEL-IFTOPSIS method: A case study of automotive supply industry. Decision Making: Applications in Management and Engineering, 5(1), 169–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gkorezis, P. (2015). Supervisor support and pro-environmental behavior: The mediating role of LMX. Management Decision, 53(5), 1045–1060.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gölcük, İ, Durmaz, E. D., & Şahin, R. (2022). Interval type-2 fuzzy development of fucom and activity relationship charts along with marcos for facilities layout evaluation. Applied Soft Computing, 128, 109414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graves, L. M., & Sarkis, J. (2018). The role of employees leadership perceptions values and motivation in employees pro-environmental behaviors. Journal of Cleaner Production, 196, 576–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groves, K. S. (2007). Integrating leadership development and succession planning best practices. Journal of MaNagement Development, 26(3), 239–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hameed, Z., Khan, I. U., Islam, T., Sheikh, Z., & Naeem, R. M. (2020). Do green HRM practices influence employees environmental performance? International Journal of Manpower, 41(7), 1061–1079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, Z., Wang, Q., & Yan, X. (2019a). How responsible leadership motivates employees to engage in organizational citizenship behavior for the environment:A double-mediation model. Sustainability., 11(3), 605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, Z., Wang, Q., & Yan, X. (2019b). How responsible leadership predicts organizational citizenship beha-vior for the environment in China. Leadership Organization Development Journal, 40(3), 305–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, A., Kim, Y., Han, K., Jackson, S. E., & Ployhart, R. E. (2017). Multilevel influences on voluntary workplace green behavior: Individual differences, leader behavior, and coworker advocacy. Journal of Management, 43(5), 1335–1358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, S.-H., Kim, M., Han, H.-S., & Holland, S. (2016). The determinants of hospitality employees’ pro-environmental behaviors: The moderating role of generational differences. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 52, 56–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lasrado, F., & Zakaria, N. (2019). Go green! Exploring the organizational factors that influence self-initiated green behavior in the united arab emirates. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 37(3), 823–850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mi, L., Zhao, J., Xu, T., Yang, H., Lv, T., Shang, K., Qiao, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2021). How does COVID-19 emergency cognition influence public pro-environmental behavioral intentions? An affective event perspective. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 168, 105467.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, P. (2017). Green human resource management. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 25(5), 762–788.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miska, C., Hilbe, C., & Mayer, S. (2013). Reconciling different views on responsible leadership: A rationality-based approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 125(2), 349–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miska, C., & Mendenhall, M. E. (2015). Responsible leadership: A mapping of extant research and future directions. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(1), 117–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muisyo, P. K., & Qin, S. (2021). Enhancing the FIRM’S green performance through green HRM: The moderating role of green innovation culture. Journal of Cleaner Production, 289, 125720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton, T. A., Parker, S. L., Zacher, H., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2015). Employee green behavior. Organization & Environment, 28(1), 103–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osintsev, N., Rakhmangulov, A., & Baginova, V. (2021). Evaluation of logistic flows in green supply chains based on the combined dematel-anp method. Facta Universitatis Series: Mechanical Engineering, 19(3), 473–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pamucar, D., & Faruk Görçün, Ö. (2022). Evaluation of the european container ports using a new hybrid fuzzy lbwa-cocoso’b techniques. Expert Systems with Applications, 203, 117463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pham, N. T., Tučková, Z., & Chiappetta Jabbour, C. J. (2019). Greening the hospitality industry: How do green human resource management practices influence organizational citizenship behavior in hotels? A mixed-methods study. Tourism Management, 72, 386–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pless, N. M., & Maak, T. (2011). Responsible leadership: Pathways to the future. Journal of Business Ethics, 98, 3–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramus, C. A., & Steger, U. (2000). The roles of supervisory support behaviors and environmental policy in employee eco-initiatives at leading edge european companies. Academy of Management Journal, 43(4), 605–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renwick, D. W. S., Redman, T., & Maguire, S. (2013). Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 41(7), 845–878.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rezaei, J. (2015). Best-worst multi-criteria decision-making method. Omega, 53, 49–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez, F. J. G., & Mar, A. C. Y. (2007). Relation between social-environmental responsibility and performance in hotel firms. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26(4), 824–839.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabokro, M., Masud, M. M., & Kayedian, A. (2021). The effect of green human resources management on corporate social responsibility, green psychological climate and employees’ green behavior. Journal of Cleaner Production, 313, 127963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, P. W., Shriver, C., Tabanico, J. J., & Khazian, A. M. (2004). Implicit connections with nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(1), 31–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, S. K., Giudice, M. D., Chierici, R., & Graziano, D. (2020). Green innovation and environmental performance: The role of green transformational leadership and green human resource management. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 150, 119762.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su, L., & Swanson, S. R. (2019). Perceived corporate social responsibility’s impact on the well-being and supportive green behaviors of hotel employees: The mediating role of the employee-corporate relationship. Tourism Management, 72, 437–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suganthi, L. (2019). Examining the relationship between corporate social responsibility performance employees pro-environmental behavior at work with green practices as mediator. Journal of Cleaner Production, 232, 739–750.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Temminck, E., Mearns, K., & Fruhen, L. (2015). Motivating employees towards sustainable behaviour. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(6), 402–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tian, Q., & Robertson, J. L. (2017). How and when does perceived CSR affect employees engagement in voluntary pro-environmental behavior? Journal of Business Ethics, 155(2), 399–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torkayesh, A. E., Pamucar, D., Ecer, F., & Chatterjee, P. (2021). An integrated bwm-lbwa-cocoso framework for evaluation of healthcare sectors in eastern europe. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 78, 101052.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tourigny, L., Han, J., Baba, V. V., & Pan, P. (2017). Ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility in china: A multilevel study of their effects on trust and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 158(2), 427–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tripathi, P. M., Srivastava, S., Singh, L. B., Kapoor, V., & Solanki, U. (2021). A JD-R perspective for enhancing engagement through empowerment: A study on Indian hotel industry. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 46, 12–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van den Broek, K., Bolderdijk, J. W., & Steg, L. (2017). Individual differences in values determine the relative persuasiveness of biospheric, economic and combined appeals. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 53, 145–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wesselink, R., Blok, V., & Ringersma, J. (2017). Pro-environmental behaviour in the workplace and the role of managers and organisation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 168, 1679–1687.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xing, Y., & Starik, M. (2017). Taoist leadership and employee green behaviour: A cultural and philosophical microfoundation of sustainability. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(9), 1302–1319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeşiltaş, M., Gürlek, M., & Kenar, G. (2022). Organizational green culture and green employee behavior: Differences between green and non-green hotels. Journal of Cleaner Production, 343, 131051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zavadskas, E. K., Govindan, K., Antucheviciene, J., & Turskis, Z. (2016). Hybrid multiple criteria decision-making methods: A review of applications for sustainability issues. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja., 29(1), 857–887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Ul-Durar, S., Akhtar, M. N., Zhang, Y., & Lu, L. (2021). How does responsible leadership affect employees voluntary workplace green behaviors? A multilevel dual process model of voluntary workplace green behaviors. Journal of Environmental Management, 296, 113205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, H., & Zhou, Q. (2021). Socially responsible human resource management and hotel employee organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: A social cognitive perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 95, 102749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zientara, P., & Zamojska, A. (2016). Green organizational climates and employee pro-environmental behaviour in the hotel industry. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(7), 1142–1159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71971190), the National Social Science Foundation of China (19BGL042) and Jiangsu Province Social Science Applied Research Excellent Engineering Project (22SYB-023).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Xiangqian Feng, Eryang Li & Jian Li

  2. College of Mathematical Sciences, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225002, China

    Cuiping Wei

Authors
  1. Xiangqian Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eryang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jian Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cuiping Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

X-F contributed by conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, and review & editing. E-L contributed by conceptualization, methodology, resources, writing—original draft. J-L contributed by conceptualization, formal analysis, review, and funding acquisition. C-W contributed by conceptualization, formal analysis, review, and funding acquisition.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiangqian Feng.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Appendix

Appendix 1 Acronyms in the paper

FLTS

Fuzzy language term set

COWA

Center ordered weighted averaging

DEMATEL

Decision-making trail and evaluation laboratory

ISM

Interpretative structural model

MICMAC

Micmac analysis

AHP

Analytic hierarchy process

MCDM

Multi-criteria decision-making

BWM

Best–worst method

ANP

Analytic Network Process

DIBR

Defining Interrelationships between ranked

FUCOM

Full consistency method

LBWA

Level-based weight assessment

LCOWA

Linguistic center ordered weighted averaging

LOWA

Linguistic ordered weighted averaging

LTS

Linguistic Term Sets

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Feng, X., Li, E., Li, J. et al. Critical influencing factors of employees’ green behavior: three-stage hybrid fuzzy DEMATEL–ISM–MICMAC approach. Environ Dev Sustain (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03364-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03364-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation