From integrity to advocacy: how climate perceptions and empowerment drive hospitality environmental performance

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationships between leadership integrity, green work climate perception, green employee empowerment and environmental performance, with particular emphasis on the mediating and moderating effects of green work climate perception, green employee empowerment and green advocacy. It adopts social cognitive theory as an overarching framework to explain how employees observe and model sustainability-related behaviours in the hospitality sector. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 340 employees working in the hotel industry in China. SPSS and Mplus 8.3 were used for data analysis to test the proposed hypotheses and assess the relationships among the variables. A cross-sectional design was used, and limitations related to causal inference were acknowledged. Findings The results confirmed that leadership integrity positively influences green work climate perception and green employee empowerment, while green work climate perception has a direct positive effect on both green employee empowerment and environmental performance. In addition, green employee empowerment is positively related to environmental performance. Mediation analysis revealed that green work climate perception mediates the relationship between leadership integrity and green employee empowerment, and green employee empowerment mediates the relationship between green work climate perception and environmental performance. Furthermore, green advocacy was found to moderate the relationship between green employee empowerment and environmental performance. Practical implications This study provides insights for the hotel industry on how enhancing leadership integrity and fostering green work climate perception can drive stronger green employee empowerments, promote proactive climate action and improve environmental performances, contributing to sustainability goals. Originality/value This research adds to the literature by exploring the complex dynamics between leadership integrity, green work climate perception and environmental performances, while introducing green advocacy as a novel moderating factor. By positioning social cognitive theory as the theoretical lens, this study provides a cohesive and behaviourally grounded explanation for environmental actions in China hospitality sector.