Towards Sustainable Leadership: Investigating Self-serving Leadership’s Effect on Employee Green Behavior, Exploring Mediators and Moderated by Organizational Ethical Climate

Abstract

Leadership in organizations plays an important role in shaping organizational dynamics, which have a significant impact on employee work behavior. Self-serving (Self-interested) leadership, particularly in the hotel business, emerges as a critical factor influencing employee performance and behavior. This study examines the intricate nexus between self-serving leadership and its impact on employee green behavior within the hospitality sector. This study undertakes a comprehensive analysis to explore not only the explicit influence of self-serving leadership on the environmentally conscious conduct of employees but also the potential moderating effect of the ethical climate within the organization on this association. In order to examine the direct and indirect hypothetical relationships among the main constructs, Mplus software was utilized. By analyzing a comprehensive sample of 370 employee questionnaires obtained from employees and teams of tourism hotels, this study investigates in depth the relationship between self-serving leadership, environmental responsibility, worker green behavior, and self-serving motivation. The empirical findings showed a significant negative relationship between self-serving leadership and employee green behavior, with environmental responsibility and self-interested motivation as intermediary factors. Moreover, the research emphasizes the critical significance of the ethical climate within the organization in reducing these impacts. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by suggesting that hotel managers foster environmental responsibility, reduce self-serving motivation, create an ethical environment that aligns with green practices and mitigate self-serving leadership styles to promote employee green behavior.