As public attention to environmental issues grows, enterprises have begun implementing environment-centered business management. Achieving environmental sustainability requires the participation of all organizational members. This study was conducted in Chinese food manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises located in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, China, and employed a three-wave, time-lagged survey design to collect and match data from team leaders and employees. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the cross-level hypotheses, and the indirect effect was assessed using Bayesian multilevel mediation analysis. Using cross-level data from both team leaders and team members, this study examines how green transformational leadership impacts employees’ pro-environmental behavior. In addition, this study examines the mediating role of employee value–action barriers and the moderating role of green brand image. The results indicate that (1) green transformational leadership positively influences employee pro-environmental behavior, (2) employee value–action barriers mediate the relationship between green transformational leadership and employee pro-environmental behavior, and (3) green brand image moderates both the correlation between green transformational leadership and employee pro-environmental behavior and the relationship between employee value–action barriers and employee pro-environmental behavior. These findings provide empirical support for the application of social learning theory and offer managerial insights into how managers can more effectively enhance their employees’ pro-environmental behavior. Future research may further test the robustness and applicability of these relationships in other industries and in different regional and national contexts.
Zhong et al. (Mon,) studied this question.