The prolificacy of green organizational practices in maturing environmental performance: the mediating role of green empowerment

Purpose Utilizing the resource-based view (RBV) and the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) theory, this study examines the prolificacy of green organizational practices, including green training and development, green transformational leadership, green creativity and green managerial values, in enhancing environmental performance both directly and indirectly, with green empowerment acting as the mediating mechanism. Design/methodology/approach We employed a survey design, administering a web-based questionnaire created in Google Forms that included scales adapted from leading previous studies. This was done to collect data from 251 managers across diverse sectors in the USA via Prolific Academic. We employed PLS-based structural equation modeling to analyze the measurement and structural models, testing the significance of the hypothesized relationships. Findings Providing green training and development, green transformational leadership and fostering green values and creativity among managers enhance environmental performance both directly and indirectly by supporting green empowerment. Green empowerment fully mediates the relationship between managerial green values and environmental performance. However, it only partially mediates the connection between green creativity and environmental performance. No significant mediation effect could be empirically established for the relationship between green transformational leadership and green training and development. Practical implications Organizations can enhance the effectiveness of their efforts to boost EP by promoting green empowerment through fostering green values and creativity among managers. Policymakers, particularly in societies undergoing green transformation, should strive to maximize ecological gains by developing green human capital. To prepare future managers for the era of sustainability-driven management, the curricula of leadership programs should be realigned to improve participants' green readiness. Originality/value This study represents one of the first attempts to explore how green empowerment effectively channels the influence of four critical green organizational practices to enhance environmental performance.