Organizational Pro-Environmental Values and Employee Sustainable Behavior: Differentiated Motivational Pathways and the Moderating Role of Green Transformational Leadership

This study examines how organizational pro-environmental values are associated with employee sustainable behavior through differentiated motivational pathways and under what leadership conditions these associations are strengthened. Drawing on self-determination theory, we propose that autonomous and controlled motivation serve as distinct mediating mechanisms, while green transformational leadership facilitates the internalization of organizational pro-environmental values into autonomous motivation. A two-study design was adopted. Study 1, based on individual-level survey data from 158 employees in tourism enterprises, showed that employee-rated organizational pro-environmental values were positively associated with both high-level and general-level sustainable behavior through different pathways: autonomous motivation mediated the relationship with high-level sustainable behavior, whereas controlled motivation mediated the relationship with general-level sustainable behavior. Study 2, a scenario-based experiment with 234 participants with tourism-related work experience, showed that green transformational leadership strengthened the effect of organizational pro-environmental values on autonomous motivation and amplified the corresponding indirect effect on high-level sustainable behavior intention. Supplementary analyses further indicated that this moderating role did not equivalently extend to the controlled-motivation pathway toward general-level intention. These findings advance research on employee sustainable behavior by distinguishing behavioral levels, motivational mechanisms, and leadership-based boundary conditions. Practically, the study suggests that organizations should embed pro-environmental values, align motivational strategies with behavioral goals, and develop green transformational leadership.