Role of Employees in Green Organizations: A journey from Organization Citizenship Behavior to Employee Green Behavior

Abstract

Employee green behavior (EGB) in organizations has been a broadly discussed topic in the literature using various interchangeable terms such as green citizenship behavior, organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE), eco-civic engagement, and pro-environment behaviors. The variety of terms used for a similar concept can serve as a hindrance in the debate, dialogue, and research discourse involving employees’ behavior and its role in the environmental friendliness of the organizations. The paper seeks to summarize various interchangeable terms and develop an integrative definitional framework for the concept of EGB. Following qualitative research design, the paper has used systematic literature review method, using a sample of available literature by deploying more than 160 articles extracted from different periodicals published in SSCI-indexed journals since last two decades on environmentally sustainable employee green behavior. This study carried out the systematic review to comprehend the roles, understanding and conceptualize the logical structure of employee green behavior. The outcomes of citation and co-citation concerning the author identify the utmost distinguished journals script and publication on employee green behavior and its related terms. Both qualitative and quantitative research work was found using industry and academia perspectives. This paper pursues to recapitulate a review of the historical evolution of the concept of EGB and various definitional terms used for it. The paper offers an integrative definitional framework of EGB and its sub-concepts such as in-role EGB and extra-role EGB. The definitional framework presented in this paper will significantly contribute to the understanding of employee green behavior in organizations and will serve as a stepping stone for further research and policymaking in this area.