Embedding Sustainability in Service Operations: A Conceptual Model

Drawing on the resource-based view, this conceptual article explains how green organizational behavior operates as a behavioral resource. This resource becomes valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable when embedded in socially complex routines and shared norms. Employees’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility are positioned as an intangible relational asset that translates such behavior into outcomes by strengthening meaning, identification, and perceived organizational support. Employee digital transformation is conceptualized as a boundary condition that intensifies the relationship from green organizational behavior to CSR perceptions by making green practices more visible, measurable, and shareable. The model specifies five propositions: green organizational behavior increases CSR perceptions, CSR perceptions enhance employee retention, CSR perceptions improve organizational performance, retention supports performance, and digital transformation strengthens the relationship between green organizational behavior and CSR perceptions. Theoretically, the model advances the natural-resource-based view by specifying a micro-level behavioral–relational pathway and clarifying how digital transformation operates as a contemporary boundary condition in service settings. Managerially, the model suggests that hospitality leaders can strengthen retention and performance by investing in employee green routines and simple digital enablers (e.g., visibility dashboards, standard operating procedure tracking) that make pro-environmental acts observable and shareable. Our theorizing is anchored in hospitality settings (e.g., hotels and related services), which sets the primary context for application. As a limitation, this is a conceptual model without empirical validation; future research should test these propositions (e.g., multi-source, multi-wave designs) before broad generalization.