Green innovative service behaviour through contingent reward transactional leadership

Prior leadership research has largely focused on voluntary pro-environmental behaviour under inspirational leadership, leaving structured reward-based approaches to green service innovation underexplored. This study examines how green contingent reward transactional leadership (GCRTL) influences employees’ green innovative service behaviour (GISB) in healthcare. Drawing on Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET), we theorise green intrinsic motivation (GIM) as the motivational mechanism linking GCRTL to GISB and internal environmental locus of control (IELOC) as a boundary condition shaping this indirect effect. Using a two-source, time-lagged design, data were collected from 1,449 employee-supervisor dyads across 23 hospitals in Pakistan. The moderated mediation model was tested using SmartPLS 4. Results show that GCRTL positively predicts GISB and that GIM partially mediates this relationship. The indirect effect is significant at mean and high levels of IELOC but not at low IELOC. The study positions GCRTL as a domain-specific form of transactional green leadership in healthcare.