Fostering employees’ pro-environmental behavior through environmentally specific servant leadership, harmonious environmental passion, and environmental locus of control

Environmental sustainability increasingly relies on employees’ pro-environmental behavior (PEB), especially through leadership style under distinct contexts. Drawing on Affective Events Theory (AET), this study tested whether harmonious environmental passion (HEP) mediated the relationship between Environmentally Specific Servant Leadership (ESSL) and PEB. Moreover, it is also analyzed that internal environmental locus of control (IELC) moderated the relationship between ESSL and HEP. Data were collected from 245 white-collar employees in the non-Western, male-dominated manufacturing sector of Pakistan using a three-wave, time-lagged survey design. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Empirical findings showed that the relationship between ESSL and PEB is mediated by harmonious environmental passion. However, contrary to expectations, IELC did not significantly moderate the relationship between ESSL and HEP. The study extended the application of AET in a non-Western context and offered a more nuanced understanding for organizations striving to improve sustainability through leadership-driven environmental engagement. The non-significant moderating role of IELC further clarified that affective leadership processes might have been more influential than individual control beliefs in fostering employees’ environmental behavior. Implications were provided for the target sector in particular and other sectors in general.