The Double-edged Effect Of Green Performance Management On Employee Non-green Behavior

Along with the growing public concerns over significant environmental issues, the interest of organizations go “green” is increasing. As employee’s behavior plays an important role in promoting organizational sustainability, organizations begin to highlight employee non-green behavior in the workplace. However, current studies in environmental fields mainly focus on employee pro-environmental behaviors, with little research focusing on employee non-green behavior. Based on ego depletion theory and norm activation theory, this study explores the double-edged effect of green performance management on employee non-green behavior by testing the mediating roles of emotional exhaustion and personal green norms as well as the moderating effect of employee attribution. Data were collected from 257 employees of a company in North China, and were analyzed by SPSS 24.0 and Mplus 7.4. The research results show that: first, green performance management could increase employee non-green behavior by aggravating their emotional exhaustion; second, green performance management could decrease employee non-green behavior by activating their personal green norms; third, the total indirect effect of green performance management on employee non-green behavior is positive; fourth, employee’s substantive and symbolic attribution of green performance management play moderating roles in this indirect process. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.