Job Characteristics and Employee Green Behavior

Pro-environmental or “green” behavior is an increasingly studied topic in the work context. Research on the relations between job characteristics and employee green behavior generally suggests that positive features of work contexts free psychological resources that lead to higher levels of employee green behavior. However, research on these associations is so far limited in the literature, and most research is based on single time point (i.e., cross-sectional) research designs. Such designs are not well-suited for understanding the unique contributions of within- and between-person variability in job characteristics to the prediction of employee green behavior. Here, we adopt a four-wave longitudinal research design, with data collected from n = 307 employees across 1.5 years. Based on predictions from job design theories, we model within- and between-person levels of important job characteristics (i.e., job demands and autonomy, as well as coworker and supervisor support), along with baseline levels of pro-environmental attitudes, as predictors of three forms of employee green behavior (i.e., task-related, proactive, and counterproductive). We also consider interactions between pro-environmental attitudes and job characteristics over time. Results suggest mixed support for our hypotheses. Although the pattern of relationships we anticipated was generally observed, this pattern was neither consistent across job characteristics nor across between- versus within-person levels of analysis. Still, the results of this study have implications for the development of job design interventions to encourage (discourage) positive (negative) employee green behaviors.