Leadership and green performance: from the perspective of environmentally-specific servant leadership

Purpose – Inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (2030 Agenda), managers have incorporated environmentally-specific servant leadership (ESSL) into managerial practice, aiming to reduce carbon emissions and improve green performance. Yet, the efficacy of ESSL and its implications are still unclear, hence deserving new research. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, we review ESSL literature and develop theory-informed hypotheses. Survey data are gathered from the US hotel employees via the platform of Amazon Mechanical Turk, in line with institutional ethical guidelines. Procedural and statistical measures are arranged to reduce the common method bias. Findings – ESSL helps employees produce green performance and trust their leaders, particularly when there is an atmosphere of Green climate (GC) in the organization. Also, employees with more green values (e.g. higher personal obligations towards a clean environment) are more likely to show green performance. When employees trust leaders, ESSL helps employees show more green performance too. Practical implications – We encourage managers to adopt ESSL in management. With ESSL in practice, employees are more likely to recognize pro-environment polices and behave accordingly. In the workplace, GC benefits employees, managers and the organization. Originality/value – Our research is original and unique by clarifying how ESSL helps employees show more green performance and trust leaders. Green values (personal level) and GC (organizational level) both have their roles in boosting green performance. Overall, research findings have brought valuable insights to the ESSL literature, enriching more inclusive managerial practices.