Integrating OCBE Literature and Norm Activation Theory: A Moderated Mediation on Proenvironmental Behavior of Employees

Abstract

Research lacks a solid understanding of the relational patterns between intrapersonal and organizational determinants to promote proenvironmental behavior. In this study, I investigated the effects of employees’ intrapersonal and perceived organizational determinants on voluntary proenvironmental behavior of employees (VPBE) from an integrative moral perspective. While primarily building on insights from norm activation theory and research on organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE), I developed a framework and empirically analyzed how interactions between ascriptions of environmental responsibility, perceptions of proenvironmental work climates, and affective organizational commitment influence VPBE. The findings show that even employees (in this study: student workforce) with little sense of responsibility towards nature can be subtly encouraged to practice VPBE. I discuss the findings against the backdrop of integrated and introjected norms and provide managerial advice. The study contributes to a theoretical broadening of the norm activation theory in workplace contexts and advances our knowledge of conditional effects and normative mechanisms underlying VPBE.