Sustainable leadership and eco-citizenship behavior: examining green organizational climate as a pathway

Purpose This study aims to draw on social learning and social exchange logics to examine how sustainable leadership shapes employees’ eco-citizenship behavior and whether green organizational climate functions as an explanatory variable. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected cross-sectional survey data from 301 employees in Ghana’s manufacturing sector and tested the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling in LISREL 8.5. Findings The authors found that sustainable leadership is positively associated with green organizational climate and employees’ eco-citizenship behavior. Green organizational climate partially transmits the association between sustainable leadership and eco-citizenship behavior, indicating both direct and indirect pathways through which sustainability-oriented leadership is linked to voluntary pro-environmental actions. Practical implications Managers can promote employees’ voluntary environmental behaviors by modeling sustainability in everyday decisions and cultivating a supportive green climate. Firms should embed sustainability in leadership development, performance systems and workplace infrastructure and clearly communicate how employees’ actions contribute to environmental goals. Policymakers can support this by incentivizing organizations to build strong internal green climates. Originality/value This study advances leadership and environmental management research by showing that sustainable leadership is theoretically distinct from narrower green, ethical or responsible leadership approaches and by demonstrating how its integrative, long term, systems-oriented logic translates into a shared green organizational climate that stimulates eco-citizenship behavior in a Sub-Saharan African manufacturing context.