Perceived ethical leadership, corporate social responsibility, and employee pro-environmental behavior: evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract The purpose of this empirical study is to reveal the relationship between perceived (by lower-level managers/supervisors and non-management employees) ethical leadership (PEL) and employee pro-environmental behavior (EPB), considering the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the green garment industry of Bangladesh based on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The independent variable, PEL, is further divided into three constructs: perceived fairness (PF), perceived integrity (PI), and perceived ethical guidance (PEG). The study adopted a deductive research approach using a cross-sectional survey based on purposively selected 190 lower-level managers/supervisors and 200 non-management employees ( n = 390) of 26 Bangladeshi green garment organizations that achieved certification in the “Platinum Category”. We used IBM SPSS 29 for conducting descriptive statistics and PLS-SEM (SmartPLS 4.1.0.3) to test the research hypotheses. First of all, two independent constructs, PI and PEG, were found to have significant positive relationships with the dependent construct, EPB, while PF was found to have a statistically insignificant relationship with EPB. Second, all three independent constructs were found to have significant positive relationships with the mediator, CSR. Third, the mediator itself was found to have a significant positive association with EPB. Finally, CSR was found to have a full mediation in the relationship between PF and EPB, while it was found to have partial mediations in the other two direct relationships (between PI and EPB; and between PEG and EPB). This study is expected to contribute to the upcoming research attempts investigating the role of ethical leadership in motivating positive behavior toward environmental aspects through the sense of CSR within the manufacturing organizations. Further, this research can aid manufacturing organization-related policymakers in motivating their employees toward creating and maintaining an environmentally friendly atmosphere.