Green Transformational Leadership and Employee Sustainability: The Roles of Green Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Green Work Engagement, and Green Intellectual Capital

Purpose The present research looks into the relationship between Green Transformational Leadership (GTL) and Green Employee Performance (GEP) in the manufacturing industry of Pakistan (MIP), and this study also tests the mediating roles of Green Organizational Citizenship Behavior (G-OCB) and Green Work Engagement (GWE), in between of GTL and GEP respectively, and one moderating variable of Green Intellectual Capital (GIC). A cross sectional quantitative research design was utilized using survey data among employees in the manufacturing sector. Data analysis and hypothesis testing were conducted through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4. The findings validate the positive impact of GTL on GEP, and both G-OCB and GWE emerged as significant mediators. Surprisingly, GIC did not moderate the predictive strength of GTL on GEP. This is one of the pioneer studies to apply Social Learning Theory to explore green leadership in the Pakistani manufacturing industry. It delivers new understandings of the mechanisms of GTL on sustainable performance, highlighting the importance of voluntary employee behavior and psychological engagement with green issues. The findings provide useful insights for managers in creating constructs of leadership toward sustainability. Organizations ought to build up GTL as well as promote G-OCB and GWE to integrate environmental outcomes into employees' roles. Although GIC is a useful tool, its contribution to improving the impact on GTL may need additional strengthening in the Pakistani context.