From green intellectual capital to sustainable performance: a 2-1-2 model of organizational citizenship behavior toward the environment and psychological contract fulfillment

Drawing on experiential learning theory, this study examines the effect of firm-level green intellectual capital on sustainable performance through employees’ organizational citizenship behavior toward environment (OCBE). It also investigates psychological contract fulfillment (PCF) as a boundary condition that may influence the relationship between green intellectual capital and OCBE, with implications for firms’ social and environmental performance. The authors conducted two studies to test the proposed model. For Study 1, we collected data from garment-exporting firms (63 managers and 201 employees), and for Study 2, we collected data from universities (46 leaders and 172 faculty members). The authors used multilevel SEM in Mplus for analyzing the hypothesized relationships. The findings provide evidence that green intellectual capital is positively associated with sustainable performance, both directly and indirectly through OCBE. The results further suggest that psychological contract fulfillment partially strengthens the positive relationship between green intellectual capital and OCBE. The study offers insights into the mechanisms through which green intellectual capital may contribute to sustainable performance and highlights the role of psychological contract fulfillment in fostering employees’ pro-environmental behaviors. The study contributes to the growing literature on green intellectual capital by focusing on sustainable performance.