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https://doi.org/10.62836/emi.v5i4.0023
Guo, Q., Marimuthu, A., & Zhang, X. (2026). From Green Intentions to Green Actions: The Role of Organisational Context in Employee Pro-Environmental Behaviour. Economics & Management Information, 5(4), 0023. https://doi.org/10.62836/emi.v5i4.0023
Volume 5, Issue 4, December 2026
Copyright (c) 2026 Qiang Guo, Anbalagan Marimuthu, Xiujuan Zhang
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

From Green Intentions to Green Actions: The Role of Organisational Context in Employee Pro-Environmental Behaviour

Employee pro-environmental behaviour is important for organisational sustainability, yet employees’ pro-environmental intentions do not always translate into workplace green action. Although previous research has identified numerous individual and organisational antecedents of employee green behaviour, less is known about how organisational context is positioned within the process linking behavioural intention and workplace action. This systematic literature review synthesises empirical evidence on the role of organisational context in this intention-to-action process. Following PRISMA 2020 reporting principles, a systematic search of Scopus identified 91 records, of which 26 publications met the inclusion criteria. The evidence was classified as either direct intention-to-action evidence or integrated contextual evidence and synthesised thematically. Four publications (15.4%) provided direct evidence positioning organisational conditions within the intention-to-behaviour relationship, whereas 22 (84.6%) provided integrated evidence concerning broader organisational pathways surrounding intention and behaviour. Five interrelated dimensions of organisational context were identified: leadership, climate, and organisational support; policies, barriers, supervision, and interventions; green human resource management, training, and organisational culture; social and relational workplace context; and organisational psychological, commitment, and opportunity mechanisms. Overall, the findings suggest that employee green behaviour is organisationally embedded and that organisational conditions may be relevant to whether environmental motivation is expressed in workplace action. The review contributes a process-oriented perspective that distinguishes intention-forming from intention-enacting organisational conditions while highlighting the limited direct evidence concerning the role of organisational context in the enactment of already formed green intentions.

employee pro-environmental behaviour green behavioural intention intention-to-action gap organisational context behavioural enactment theory of planned behaviour

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Supporting Agencies

  1. Funding: This research received no external funding.