Roles of Organizational Commitment, Green Shared Vision, and Internal Environmental Locus of Control: A Case Study of the Employees Working in the Bus Company in Isfahan

Environmental challenges put significant pressure on organizations to behave more environmentally sustainable. Many organizations have begun to adopt green policies and practices to increase economic benefits and have better environmental performance (Ardito and Dangelico, 2018). However, the environmental performance of organizations not only depends on strict rules and regulations but also requires employees’ positive response to environmental concerns based on pro-environmental behavior (Kim et al., 2017). The success of a company's environmental management depends on its employees’ pro-environmental behaviors, which can improve its overall environmental performance (Afaer et al., 2018; Lu et al., 2017). Employees’ voluntary actions contribute to the environmental sustainability of the organization but are not controlled by any formal environmental management policies or systems (Kim et al., 2017). Pro-environmental behaviors include recycling and reusing, finding sustainable ways of working, developing and applying ideas to reduce the negative environmental impacts of the company, developing green processes and products, and questioning harmful actions (Graves et al., 2013). Leader behavior is one of the variables that can affect an employee’s pro-environmental behavior. One of the leadership styles is responsible leadership and the leader as an example can affect employee’s commitment and pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, the main question of the present study was whether responsible leadership is effective on employees’ pro-environmental behavior. To arrive at a proper answer, the roles of organizational commitment, green shared vision, and internal environmental locus of control of the employees working in the Bus Company in Isfahan were investigated.

 The present study was applied research in terms of purpose and a descriptive survey in terms of method. The statistical population of the current research included 317 employees, managers, and supervisors working in the Bus Company in Isfahan. The statistical sample was determined randomly by using Cochran's formula with 5% error and a sample size of 174 people was finally chosen. The variables of responsible leadership, organizational commitment, green shared vision, internal environmental locus of control, and employee’s pro-environmental behavior were measured by using the questionnaires designed by Voegtlin (2011), Mowday et al. (1979), Chen et al. (2015), Cleveland et al. (2012), and Robertson and Barling (2017) with 5, 15, 4, 10, and 12 items based on Likert scale, respectively. The content validity, divergent and convergent validities, composite reliability, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire of this study were appropriate.

The results analyzed by using structural equation modeling showed that responsible leadership had a positive and significant effect on the employees' pro-environmental behaviors, organizational commitments, and green shared visions; green shared vision had a positive and significant effect on their pro-environmental behaviors; and responsible leadership through green shared vision could affect the employees' pro-environmental behaviors. The results also revealed that responsible leadership did not have a significant effect on pro-environmental behavior mediated by organizational commitment. In addition, the moderating role of the internal environmental control of the employees in the relationships of organizational commitment and green shared vision with pro-environmental behavior was not confirmed. Therefore, responsible managers should pay attention to creating pro-environmental behavior in the employees of the Bus Company in Isfahan, as well as in their visions and strategies by creating a green shared vision, and consider programs that lead to less lost energy in the field of transportation and less damage to the environment.