Positive and Negative Affect and Employee Green Behavior: A Five-Wave Study of Reciprocal Within-Person Relations

Abstract

Despite the emotional nature of environmental issues for many individuals, the role of affect as a potential predictor and outcome of employee green behavior has been largely neglected. Drawing from dynamic theorizing on affect and work behavior, we investigate reciprocal within-person relations between positive and negative work-related affect and citizenship and counterproductive green behavior. Data were collected at five monthly measurement points among n = 2,738 employees in Germany. Results of random intercept cross-lagged panel models indicated that higher levels of positive affect predicted a subsequent increase in citizenship green behavior, and that this effect was stronger among employees with stronger (vs. weaker) biospheric values. In addition, higher levels of negative affect predicted a subsequent increase in counterproductive green behavior, and vice versa. These findings advance the understanding of the dynamic ways in which work-related affect influences, and is influenced by, the engagement in environmentally friendly and harmful work behaviors.