Going Inward First: Green Brand Positioning, Environmental Knowledge, and Employee Green Behaviour—Evidence from the Sri Lankan Apparel Sector

Green brand research has predominantly concentrated on external customers, including the impact of green brand positioning on consumer attitudes, purchasing behaviour, and brand loyalty. However, the ultimate success of a green branding strategy may depend on employees, i.e., the internal customers, who must first understand and embrace the environmental message before delivering it to external customers. This inside-out dynamic remains empirically underexplored. The study fills this void by examining the impact of Green Brand Positioning on Employee Green Behaviour and the moderating role of Employee Environmental Knowledge in the apparel industry, which accounts for up to 10% of global carbon emissions and over 40% of Sri Lanka’s export earnings. The study draws data from 300 employees, using a structured questionnaire and multiple regression with moderation analysis. The findings confirm that Green Brand Positioning positively affects Employee Green Behaviour, with Emotional Green Brand Positioning having a greater impact than Functional Green Brand Positioning. Interestingly, employee environmental knowledge did not moderate either relationship, implying that green brand positioning is a direct and universal internal behavioural driver regardless of employees’ environmental knowledge. The results have important implications for senior management and policymakers aiming to foster sustainable organisational cultures by first reaching internal stakeholders.