When and How does in-role pro-environmental behavior spill over to extra-role behavior: Two experimental studies in the retail and education industries

Abstract

By integrating theories of goal proximity and crowding-out, this research investigates how and when employees' performance of in-role pro-environmental behaviors will spill over to future engagement in extra-role pro-environmental behaviors. Using two experiments with employees from the retail (N = 338) and education (N = 448) industries, we found a conditional positive spillover effect, mediated by pro-environmental goal commitment. More specifically, when employees with low intrinsic pro-environmental motivation received feedback that they had progressed in their in-role pro-environmental performance, their extra-role pro-environmental behavior intentions increased due to an increased commitment to the pro-environmental goal. However, when employees had high intrinsic pro-environmental motivation, this spillover effect was negative (Study 1) or non-significant (Study 2). To summarize, the positive spillover effect only occurs when employees are not highly intrinsically motivated. Our findings uncover a missing piece in organizational environmental management literature and carry important implications for employee-oriented initiatives.