Linking green mindful leadership to employee pro-environmental behaviors: The roles of green HRM practices and employee green self-efficacy

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractUnderstanding the factors associated with employee pro-environmental behavior is particularly important in manufacturing, where employees translate organizational sustainability objectives into everyday workplace practices. This study examines the relationships among green mindful leadership, green human resource management practices, employee green self-efficacy, and employee pro-environmental behavior. Data were collected through purposive and snowball sampling from 680 full-time employees of Vietnamese manufacturing firms and analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results show that green mindful leadership is positively associated with green competence-building practices (β = 0.253; p < 0.001), green motivation-enhancing practices (β = 0.279; p < 0.001), and green employee involvement practices (β = 0.187; p < 0.001). In turn, green competence-building practices (β = 0.249; p < 0.001), green motivation-enhancing practices (β = 0.294; p < 0.001), and green employee involvement practices (β = 0.170; p < 0.001) are positively associated with employee green self-efficacy, which is further associated with employee pro-environmental behavior (β = 0.314; p < 0.001). The three dimensions of green human resource management also show positive direct relationships with employee pro-environmental behavior, with green employee involvement practices demonstrating the strongest association (β = 0.353; p < 0.001), followed by green competence-building practices (β = 0.194; p < 0.001) and green motivation-enhancing practices (β = 0.096; p = 0.033). Sequential mediation analyses confirm significant indirect pathways from green mindful leadership to employee pro-environmental behavior through green competence-building practices and employee green self-efficacy (β = 0.020; p = 0.001), green employee involvement practices and employee green self-efficacy (β = 0.010; p = 0.012), and green motivation-enhancing practices and employee green self-efficacy (β = 0.026; p = 0.002). These results indicate that leadership-driven green human resource management systems are associated with stronger employee pro-environmental behavior when green organizational practices are coupled with greater employee confidence in their ability to perform environmentally responsible actions.AcknowledgmentThis research is funded by Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) under grant number C2024-28-16.