The social identity model of pro-environmental action (SIMPEA) at work: predicting organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment

Global environmental crises require a swift transformation of organizations towards environmental sustainability, and increased employee green behaviour (EGB) is essential in this regard. EGB refers to a collective (i.e., the work organization); however, it is so far largely unclear how social identity factors contribute to EGB. Based on the social identity model of pro-environmental action (SIMPEA), we propose that organizational identification, organizational environmental efficacy beliefs, and perceived organizational environmental norms motivate individuals to engage in organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment (OCBE), above and beyond personal biospheric values. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a two-wave survey study (N = 1,484 employees) with a 4-month time lag. Organizational identification, organizational environmental efficacy beliefs, and perceived organizational environmental norms at T1 were each positively correlated with co-worker-directed and organization-directed OCBE at T2, although only the first two variables showed unique effects on OCBE. Additionally, as expected, the positive association between organizational environmental efficacy beliefs and co-worker-directed OCBE was only present when employees were at least moderately identified with their organization. Overall, these findings suggest that socially identified employees' perception that their work organization is efficaciously pursuing the green transformation contributes to their individual contribution (EGB).