From leadership to environmental impact: the mediating roles of green employee empowerment and green commitment

Purpose This study examines how green agile leadership is associated with environmental performance through green employee empowerment and green commitment and investigates the moderating role of green advocacy in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 392 employees working in manufacturing firms in major Chinese cities and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings Green agile leadership is positively associated with green employee empowerment and green commitment, both of which mediate its relationship with environmental performance. Green advocacy strengthens the relationship between green agile leadership and green commitment but not the relationship with green employee empowerment, suggesting that peer-based green advocacy is more relevant to employees’ emotional attachment than to their perceived autonomy and decision authority. Practical implications Manufacturing managers may support environmental performance by adopting environmentally oriented leadership practices characterized by adaptability, responsiveness, employee involvement, and flexible decision-making. They may also foster green advocacy to reinforce employees’ commitment to environmental goals. Given the cross-sectional and perceptual data, these implications should be interpreted as evidence-informed rather than causal. Originality/value This study distinguishes green agile leadership through its emphasis on adaptability, responsiveness, decentralized decision-making, and iterative environmental problem-solving. It identifies empowerment and commitment as distinct capacity- and motivation-based pathways and reveals the asymmetric role of green advocacy in strengthening commitment, but not empowerment.