From meaning to mastery: how psychological climate fosters eco-friendly employees and proactive service stars

Purpose This study aims to investigate how hotel employees’ psychological climate is associated with two discretionary behaviours: voluntary pro-environmental behaviour (VPEB) and proactive customer service performance (PCSP). The authors developed a moderated mediation model to explain the mediating mechanism of experienced meaningfulness and the moderating role of interdependent self-construal (InterSC) in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected in two waves from 603 employees in Macau’s four- and five-star hotels. The hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM and conditional mediation procedures in SmartPLS 4, supplemented by a hotel-cluster-adjusted path analysis. Findings Experienced meaningfulness mediated the relationships between psychological climate and both VPEB and PCSP. Its effect size was medium for VPEB and small for PCSP. InterSC strengthened these indirect relationships by moderating the relationship between psychological climate and experienced meaningfulness. Practical implications Luxury hotels can simultaneously achieve service and sustainability excellence by fostering a supportive psychological climate. Specifically, management can implement practices that foster meaningfulness while recognising differences in employees’ relational orientations. Originality/value By applying social information processing theory, this study examines the potential relevance of a common psychological pathway across environmental and service behaviours. It identifies experienced meaningfulness as a psychological mechanism through which psychological climate is associated with both VPEB and PCSP.