Exploring the nature and antecedents of employee green behaviours in a supply chain context

Environmental supply chain management (ESCM) is an evolving discipline. Supply chain employees, when motivated, can help implement sustainability at every stage of the supply chain (SC). It is impossible for organisations to reach environmental sustainability objectives without an active engagement of SC employees. Literature has pointed out a need to understand the motivations of employees towards sustainability implementation, particularly in a SC context. Employees may differ in their green behaviours across different settings and contexts. Therefore, this research explores the nature and antecedents of employees’ green behaviours (EGBs) at an individual level in a SC context. The novelty of this research lies in contributing to theoretical understanding and explaining the nature of EGBs and antecedents that promote engagement in sustainability among SC employees.

An inductive case study methodology is employed, and interview data from practising SC employees from different functions and levels is collected to study their perceptions and engagement in sustainability. Three theoretical lenses (Role theory, Expectancy theory and Self-efficacy theory) are applied to build a theoretical framework from the findings. The findings indicate that SC employees engage in varying levels of proactiveness towards sustainability ranging from compliance to proactive green behaviours.

A rich view of antecedents relevant to SC employees is developed, which reflects the different ways in which SC employees align their internal and external felt responsibility leading to their engagement in EGBs. SC employees’ internal motivations and their perceived capability to engage in the presence of external influences that increases their role breadth perceptions are harnessed to result in proactive engagement in sustainability. This thesis will potentially help researchers and practitioners to better understand the antecedents related to SC EGBs and subsequently support the implementation of corporate environmental sustainability objectives.