Green Organisational Identity and Employees’ Green Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Environmental Commitment in Tourism Enterprises

Abstract

In terms of the sustainability of the tourism sector, the green organisational identity and green behaviour of all employees are of great importance in successfully implementing environmental management practices. In this context, the purpose of this study is to determine the mediating role of environmental commitment (EC) in the relationship between green organisational identity (GOI) and employees’ green behaviour (EGB) among individuals working in the tourism sector. The data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 607 participants working in tourism enterprises operating within the borders of the Muğla province in Turkey. As part of the research study, analyses of the validity and reliability of the scales were carried out, and an analysis of the structural equation model was carried out using the SmartPLS 4.1 software to determine the relationships between the variables. As a result of this investigation, it was found that GOI has a significant positive effect on EGB and EC and that EC has a partial mediating effect on the effect of GOI on EGB. The findings of this research study can be considered to contribute to the literature both theoretically and practically.

1. Introduction

Tourism is a dynamic sector that develops and changes economically, socially, culturally and environmentally. In parallel with these developments and changes, environmental management practices have begun to play a key role in the future of the sector, especially as the depletion of natural resources, pollution, global warming and climate change may affect the sustainability of tourism. For this reason, tourism companies have rapidly developed an awareness of the environment and, together with their employees, have adopted environmentally sensitive and environmentally friendly practices and have become green. In this context, tourism businesses focus on environmental management practices to increase the productivity of their employees, help protect the environment, increase their market share, gain a competitive advantage, reduce waste, benefit from reduced costs by saving energy and water and make effective use of recycling. However, global warming, combined with the destruction of the natural environment, is causing serious negative impacts on the environment. Global climate change poses a risk to human survival, and the preference of companies for green practices to protect the world is a key factor at this point [1].

Today, the world is faced with the depletion of natural resources to support industrial growth and the negative consequences of climate change and global warming. As a result, companies are exploring different operating models that can adapt to the concept of sustainability [2]. In this context, companies must successfully address environmental issues in order to gain a sustainable competitive advantage [3] and treat the environment well because they derive many benefits from it [4].

The most effective way to improve environmental management in the tourism sector is through development planning and laws and regulations on pollution control and protected areas [5], as well as through green awareness among tourism businesses and their employees. The GOI, which has developed as environmental issues have become more prominent, encourages managers and employees to become environmentally aware and to start managing in a green manner. This plays a key role in improving the environmental and business performance of the organisation by promoting environmentally committed sustainable practices [6] and by enhancing green performance [7]. Particularly in the tourism sector, which is a service sector, it is thought that it will be very beneficial for employees to be effective in this context.

If tourism enterprises perceive environmental issues as being at the core of their organisational identity, they will not see environmental problems as a threat and will be able to exhibit a voluntary environmental strategy [8]. This situation will contribute positively to the business achieving its goals by gaining a competitive advantage.

In terms of the sustainability of tourism enterprises, the successful implementation of environmental management practices relies on all employees exhibiting green behaviour, and for this, the GOI of the business is of paramount importance. In this regard, tourism enterprises need to emphasise practices that can enhance employees’ EC and perceptions of their GOI, which can positively influence their green behaviours.

It is very important for tourism businesses to act with an environmentally friendly approach. By implementing an eco-friendly management strategy, tourism enterprises can establish a significant destination for eco-aware tourists and the environment. Sustainability is enhanced by eco-friendly methods. By identifying with the company, employees can be shaped and transformed by a green organisational identity, which also helps the company to develop a green shared vision. Given this, it can be said that a green organisational identity will help create a green organisational structure and encourage people to adopt green practices. Businesses in the tourism industry that embrace environmental responsibility, and staff members that exhibit eco-friendly conduct strengthen sustainability, which, in turn, strengthens staff members’ dedication to the environment and supports and implements sustainable policies. Businesses that act with this understanding can achieve sustainable competitive advantages by achieving their sustainability goals.

The positive effect of GOI and EC on EGB and whether there is an enhancing effect of EC on the effect of GOI on EGB constitute the starting point of this research study.

Evaluating the research variables in theoretical context, the relationships between these variables can be explained by the Social Identity Theory, Expectancy and Enhanced Expectancy Theory, Individual–Organisation Fit Theory and Job Characteristics Theory.

There is no existing research in the literature regarding the mediating role of EC in the effect of GOI on EGB. Therefore, investigating the mediating role of EC in the influence of GOI on EGB underscores the significance of this research.

The research questions formulated within the scope of the research are as follows:

• Does GOI have an effect on EGB?
• Does GOI have an effect on EC?
• Does EC have an effect on EGB?
• Does EC play a mediating role in the effect of GOI on EGB?

The following sections of the research study address the above research questions. First, the study examines GOI, EGB and EC, followed by a literature review. The study then tests the hypotheses and finally discusses the practical implications, offering several management recommendations for tourism enterprises based on the research findings.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Green Organisational Identity

There are two uses of organisational identity. The first is used by scholars to define and characterise specific aspects of the organisation, while the second refers to the concept that organisations use to characterise their own direction [9]. Although corporate identity theory has been widely discussed in the field of business, there is no comprehensive organisational identity model in the field of environmental management. Therefore, Chen [10], introduced the concept of GOI based on the organisational identity theory to develop an original environmental management model. Businesses with GOI are obliged to make environmentally friendly innovations while conducting their activities [3] GOI promotes benefits for businesses by encouraging the development of green initiatives and the ability to cope with environmental regulations and laws [11]. In this context, according to Sharma et al. [12], when the importance of the environment becomes an integral part of a business’s organisational identity, it becomes increasingly difficult for the business to ignore its environmental impact, and the sense of environmental responsibility is legitimised as an integral part of the corporate identity.

Studies have shown that green organisational identity has positive effects on green competitive advantages [10,13], green versatility innovation [13], psychological ownership of green products, green knowledge sharing [14], organisational citizenship behaviour towards the environment and green product development performance [7]. Furthermore, it has been found that GOI has a direct impact on organisational commitment [15] and a significant impact on employees’ green personal social identity and green job performance [16]. In addition, there is also a positive relationship between an organisation’s environmental culture and its environmental leadership [10], and it has been concluded that green organisational identity has a great impact on sustainable company performance [17].

2.2. Employees’ Green Behaviour

Green behaviour may refer to an earth-friendly, eco-conscious way of living that is achieved through a combination of environmental concern and truly eco-friendly actions [18]. EGB means that employees are aware that they have a responsibility to the environment, that they behave by consciously and voluntarily considering the environment, and that they try to be beneficial while trying to avoid harming the environment. For this reason, the EGB makes them aware of their responsibility towards the environment and enables them to go beyond what the work and the organisation require of them [19].

The pro-environmental behaviour exhibited by employees within an organisation is referred to as EGB. The environmental behaviour of employees plays an important role in the conservation of the company’s resources as well as in the protection of the environment and natural resources and their sustainability [20]. EGB occurs when individuals adopt environmental behaviours related to their work. Looking at the difference between pro-environmental and EGB, it can be said that it lies in the environment and the roles in which the behaviour occurs [21].

There are individual factors (level of environmental knowledge and awareness, personal values, environmental motivation, environmental beliefs and attitudes) and organisational factors (environmental behaviour and support of managers and leaders, environmental support of the organisation, GHRM practices, social responsibility practices, teamwork) that affect environmental behaviour [22]. When employees feel calm, peaceful and happy, they are more likely to use environmentally friendly methods while carrying out their necessary work tasks [23]. In this context, employee behaviour makes a significant contribution to an organisation’s environmental performance [21].

Studies have shown that those who are committed to environmentally friendly behaviour have a relationship between green advertising message acceptance and green product purchase intention [24], and there is a strong positive relationship between green leadership and green organisational citizenship behaviour [25]. Conscientiousness and moral consideration are related to the voluntary workplace environmental behaviour of group leaders and individual group members, and there is a direct relationship between the green behaviour of the leader and the green behaviour of subordinates [24]. Furthermore, GHRM and corporate environmental strategy have a positive relationship with the psychological climate that leads to the formation of pro-environmental behaviour in employees [26].

2.3. Environmental Commitment

Commitment as a term is used both as a process and as an outcome of the members of the organisation having demonstrated their environmental concerns [27]. EC can be defined as the degree to which companies and managers are willing to support practices that protect the natural environment and are oriented towards environmental protection [28]. In other words, EC means that individuals are more aware of nature and act more sensitively [29].

The actual environmental actions taken by companies can be defined as EC. Examples of practices that can be implemented by the company in relation to the environment include having an environmental plan; communicating this plan to employees, shareholders or stakeholders; having an environmental health and safety department or having a board or management committee that deals with environmental issues [30]. EC should lead to a growing recognition that organisations’ commitment to desired environmental characteristics tend to be important elements of organisational performance and survival [31]. When pro-environmental behaviour is aligned with personal priorities, such as an individual’s commitment to the environment, it increases their motivation to act, but when it is not aligned with personal commitment, pro-environmental behaviour is less likely to occur [32].

In their study, Roy et al. [33] found that large companies have greater access to both financial and human resources and are therefore able to make greater efforts to reduce their impact on the environment, and they concluded that there is a positive relationship between EC and variables related to competitiveness. In addition, Roy and Thérin [34] found that organisations with a higher level of commitment to the environment are also more open to external information on environmental issues. In his study, Değirmenci [29] found that the EC of private-sector employees was higher than that of public-sector employees. Sendawula et al. [28] found that EC is a determinant of environmental sustainability practices, including environmentally friendly packaging, energy efficiency, managing waste and saving water.

In other studies, it was concluded that socially responsible human resource management influences employees’ environmental performance, green knowledge sharing and EC [35], while EC influences environmentally responsible behaviour [36], green innovation [37], green intangible assets, green competitive advantages [38], organisational green culture, environmental organisational strategy [39] and firm performance [40]. At the same time, EC has been found to significantly support green purchasing behaviour [41].

3. Hypothesis Development

3.1. The Relationship Between Green Organisational Identity and Employees’ Green Behaviour

Zhu et al. [42] stated that ecological environmental problems place higher demands on companies to take environmental responsibility and that it is of great importance to promote EGB to implement the concept of green development, and they concluded that GOI mediates the positive relationship between GHRM and task-related green behaviour. In addition, the study found that the indirect effect of GHRM on task-related green behaviour through GOI accounted for 67.68% of the total effect. Cheng et al. [43] found that employees’ pro-environmental behaviour affects the organisation in many dimensions. The analysis results of their study showed that employees’ pro-environmental behaviours have a positive impact on GOI and increase firms’ green innovation performance. The study by Rajabi et al. [44] showed that organisational identity has a positive effect on teachers’ green behaviour. Mirahsani et al. [45] state in their study that EGB is one of the most important determinants of success in achieving the company’s sustainability goals and that companies can create green behaviour in their organisations by implementing policies related to GOI in creating appropriate working conditions and supporting employees. In this context, it is found that GOI has a positive effect on EGB. In their study, Zafar et al. [46] found a positive relationship between green organisational climate and organisational identity. They also found that green organisational climate and organisational identity have a mediating effect on the relationship between GHRM and voluntary pro-environmental behaviour. As a result of the study conducted by Chou [47], it was concluded that personal environmental norms positively influence EGB at work and that green organisational climate regulates the relationship between personal environmental norms and EGB. Zafar et al. [48] found that environmentally specific servant leaders trigger employees’ voluntary pro-environmental behaviour and that environmentally specific servant leadership is positively related to voluntary pro-environmental behaviour through organisational identity.

In this context, the first hypothesis of this study is defined as follows:

Hypothesis H1:

GOI has a positive effect on EGB.

3.2. The Relationship Between Green Organisational Identity and Environmental Commitment

GOI was found to have a positive effect on EC by Chang and Chen [49]. The same study concluded that GOI can positively influence green innovation performance indirectly through EC and environmental organisational legitimacy. Al-Zawahreh et al. [50] found that there is a positive and very strong relationship between GOI and EC and that GOI alone can explain 31% of the common variance in EC.

In this context, the second hypothesis of this study is defined as follows:

Hypothesis H2:

GOI has a positive effect on EC.

3.3. The Relationship Between Environmental Commitment and Employees’ Green Behaviour

In their study, Değirmenci and Aytekin [51] concluded that employees’ environmental commitment has a positive and significant effect on their green behaviour. Davis et al. [4] found that individuals are more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviour as their EC increases. Davis et al. [4] concluded that participants who are prepared to experience high EC are willing to engage in pro-environmental behaviour to a greater extent than participants who are prepared to experience low EC. The study also found that EC and environmental connectedness are strong predictors of green behaviour. The results of the study by Ye et al. [52] show that the transformation of top management’s green commitment facilitates the green behaviour of hospitality workers by increasing their green hope.

In this context, the third hypothesis of this research is defined as follows:

Hypothesis H3:

EC has a positive effect on EGB.

3.4. Mediating Role of Environmental Commitment

EC was found to mediate the relationship between GHRM and environmental organisational citizenship behaviour [53], the relationship between GHRM and firm environmental and financial performance [54] and the relationship between GHRM practices and green service improvement performance [55], and EC played a moderating role in the relationship between green innovation and sustainability performance [56]. In their study, Abbas et al. [57] found that there is a positive relationship between responsible leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour for the environment through employee psychological ownership and EC to the environment. Kuar et al. [58] concluded that EC is significantly related to the adoption of green practices in hotels. However, in the same study, it was found that subjective norms and environmental knowledge directly affect EC; EC fully mediates the relationship between subjective norms and green practices, and EC partially mediates the relationship between environmental knowledge and green practices.

In their study, He et al. [59] found that EC has a mediating effect between the service quality of destination employees and tourists’ environmental behaviour. In their study, Shah et al. [60] found that corporate social responsibility has a direct positive effect on pro-environmental behaviour and that environmental awareness and commitment mediate this relationship. Tariq et al. [61] found that employees’ environmental attitudes have a direct effect on employees’ environmental behaviour and environmental performance and that employees’ environmental behaviour positively mediates employees’ environmental attitudes and environmental performance. It has also been found that the EC of managers strengthens the relationship between the environmental attitudes and the environmental behaviour of the employees. In their study, Fu et al. [62] found that employees’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility can improve goal-specific pro-environmental behaviour, and that employees’ environmental commitment and green self-efficacy have a mediating effect.

Furthermore, the findings of Mo et al.’s [63] study indicate that the congruence/discordance between the manager’s prescriptive and descriptive employee green behaviour norms has a positive relationship on voluntary/required employee green behaviour through the promotion/prevention of a focus on green behaviours exhibited by employees.

In this context, the fourth hypothesis of this research is defined as follows:

Hypothesis H4:

EC has a mediating role in the effect of GOI on EGB.

4. Materials and Methods

This part of the study firstly provides information about the research model, the population and sample of the study and the scales preferentially used in the study as a result of the literature review. Statistical analyses were carried out with the data that were obtained from the research sample.

4.1. Research Design

The conceptual model of the research, developed as a result of the literature review, is shown in Figure 1 below.

4.2. Population and Sample of the Study

The population of the research consisted of hotel establishments operating in the Muğla province. The required data set preferred in the research was obtained by applying a questionnaire to 607 employees through the convenience sampling method.

Of the participants, 242 were female and 365 were male. Of these, 197 of the participants were aged “18–30”, 328 were aged “31–40”, 74 were aged “41–50” and 8 were aged “51 and over”. A total of 393 of the participants were married, and 214 were single. In terms of educational level, 3 of the employees had a primary school education, 58 of them had a high school education, 73 of them had an associate degree, 372 of them had a bachelor’s degree and 101 of them had postgraduate education. When analysing the length of working experience, 26 of them had less than 1 year, 108 of them had “1–3 years”, 144 of them had “4–6 years”, 129 of them had “10–12” years and 200 of them had “12 years or more”(Figure 2).

4.3. Research Scales

The statements in all the questionnaire forms are unidimensional and were measured using a 5-point Likert scale.

Green Organisational Identity Scale: The 6-item scale developed by Chen [10] was preferred.

Employees’ Green Behaviour Scale: The 7-item scale created by Robertson and Barling [64] was used.

Environmental Commitment Scale: The scale consisting of 7 items from the study of Raineri and Paillé [65] was preferred.

4.4. Research Analysis and Findings

Internal consistency reliability, convergent validity and divergent validity analyses were conducted to determine the validity and reliability of the research model. In the analysis of internal consistency reliability, we calculated and interpreted both the Cronbach alpha and CR (composite reliability) coefficients.

Table 1. Measurement results of the research model.

Latent Variable	Statements	Factor Loadings	Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient	CR Coefficient	AVE Scores
Green Organisational Identity	GOI1	0.792	0.911	0.912	0.632
	GOI2	0.794
	GOI3	0.818
	GOI4	0.750
	GOI5	0.805
	GOI6	0.809
Environmental Commitment	EC1	0.903	0.957	0.957	0.760
	EC2	0.808
	EC3	0.907
	EC4	0.852
	EC5	0.893
	EC6	0.857
	EC7	0.878
Employees’ Green Behaviour	EGB1	0.892	0.950	0.950	0.731
	EGB2	0.845
	EGB3	0.841
	EGB4	0.767
	EGB5	0.864
	EGB6	0.842
	EGB7	0.925

presents the results of the assessment of the internal consistency reliability and convergent validity of the research variables.

Cronbach’s alpha coefficients between 0.911 and 0.950 were calculated when analysing the scores in Table 1. As the CR coefficients had values between 0.912 and 0.957, it was assumed that internal consistency reliability was achieved. Upon considering the factor loading values, it was determined that they ranged from 0.767 to 0.925. The AVE values were observed to be between 0.632 and 0.760. It is necessary for the AVE and CR values to exceed the specified threshold if the factor loadings are between 0.40 and 0.70. It is advisable to exclude these statements from the model if the factor loadings fall below this threshold [66]. In this regard, the factor-loading scores of the chosen variables exceeded the threshold value in the research. The discriminant validity of the scale in this study was assessed using the HTMT criteria. The results from the discriminant validity analysis are presented in

Table 2. Discriminant validity result values calculated using the Fornell and Larcker criterion.

	Environmental Commitment	Employees’ Green Behaviour	Green Organisational Identity
Environmental Commitment	0.872
Employees’ Green Behaviour	0.820	0.855
Green Organisational Identity	0.652	0.765	0.795

.

Table 2 presents the results of the discriminant validity analysis for the research scale. According to Fornell and Larcker [67], the square root of the mean variance values of the variables in the study, calculated as AVE values, should exceed the correlation coefficients between the latent variables. In Table 2, it is clear that the research scale retained its discriminant validity, as the values of the AVE were higher than the values of the correlation coefficients between the latent variables. The analysis indicates a significant and positive correlation between employees’ perceptions of green organisational identity and their green behaviours (r = 0.765; p < 0.01), as well as between environmental commitment (r = 0.652; p < 0.01) and employees’ perceptions of green behaviours. It is concluded that there exists a positive relationship between environmental commitment and green behaviours among employees (r = 0.820; p < 0.01).

The results of the heat-map graph analysis in Figure 3, which were used to interpret the correlation between the variables in the research, indicate a significant and positive relationship between employees’ perceptions of green organisational identity and employees’ green behaviours, as well as between environmental commitment and employees’ perceptions of green behaviours (Figure 3).

Henseler et al. [68] state that the HTMT criterion is obtained by dividing the mean of the correlations among all latent variables by the geometric mean of the correlations of the same variable. This value must not exceed 0.85. Therefore, upon analysis of the HTMT values presented in

Table 3. Discriminant validity results calculated with the HTMT criterion.

	Environmental Commitment	Employees’ Green Behaviour	Green Organisational Identity
Environmental Commitment
Employees’ Green Behaviour	0.819
Green Organisational Identity	0.651	0.764

, it can be concluded that the research scale exhibited discriminant validity.

4.5. SEM Model

In line with the study objectives, a variance-based SEM model analysis was used to test the hypotheses derived from the literature review. A structural model was built using the bootstrapping technique to assess the significance of the path coefficients in the research. The variance-based SEM model for the research is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 shows the standardised regression coefficients of the research model, including the latent variables, their respective levels of statistical significance and the corresponding t-values. In

Table 4. Path coefficients of the variance-based SEM model.

Variables	Standardised β Coefficient	Standard Error	t Value	p Value	Hypotheses
$\mathbf{G}\mathbf{O}\mathbf{I}\to$ EGB	0.399	0.038	10.629	0.000 *	H1 accepted
$\mathbf{G}\mathbf{O}\mathbf{I}\to$ EC	0.652	0.028	23.379	0.000 *	H2 accepted
$\mathbf{E}\mathbf{C}\to \mathbf{E}\mathbf{G}\mathbf{B}$	0.559	0.037	15.086	0.000 *	H3 accepted
$\mathbf{G}\mathbf{O}\mathbf{I}\to$ EC$\to$ EGB	0,365	0.028	13.134	0.000 *	H4 accepted

p < 0.001 *.

, the path coefficient values of the research model in the study are presented.

At the initial stage of the research, the path coefficients were evaluated and tested for significance in the model. Upon examination of the path coefficients in Table 4, it is evident that the H1 hypothesis, showcasing the impact of green organisational identity on employees’ green behaviours (β = 0.399; p = 0.000), and the H2 hypothesis, demonstrating the influence of environmental commitment (β = 0.652; p = 0.001), are both supported. Moreover, the H3 hypothesis, showcasing the impact of environmental commitment on employees’ green behaviours, was supported (β = 0.559; p = 0.001), and it was found that these path coefficients have a statistically positive effect. Following the implementation of the bootstrap method, VAF values were calculated and examined to determine the mediating effect of this model. The mediation effect is determined by using the $\mathrm{V}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{F}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{Indirect} \mathrm{effect}}{\mathrm{Indirect} \mathrm{effect}+\mathrm{Direct} \mathrm{effect}}}$ formula. VAF values of less than 0.20 indicate no mediation effect, while values between 0.20 and 0.80 indicate a partial mediation effect, and values greater than or equal to 0.80 indicate a full mediation effect [69,70]. Accordingly, we calculated the direct effect (β = 0.399; p = 0.000), the indirect effect (β = 0.365; p = 0.001) and the total effect (β = 0.764; p = 0.000) of green organisational identity on employees’ green behaviour. This resulted in a value for $\mathrm{V}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{F}={\displaystyle \frac{0.365}{0.365+0.399}}=0.478$. It is concluded that when evaluating the VAF value, the indirect effect of environmental commitment on the impact of a green organisational identity on employees’ green behaviour is partially mediated, which supports hypothesis H4.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5.1. Theoretical and Practical Implications

In a world where technological development is advancing at a dizzying pace, organisations can only survive and thrive if they adapt to change and are not indifferent to current and social issues. In this context, the importance of GOI and EC is very high, both to ensure the sustainability of the companies and to provide relative superiority over their competitors operating in the sector. It is also important that people working in tourism, which is a smokeless industry, behave in an environmentally friendly way. The responsibility to minimise the negative impact of the tourism sector on the environment can only be achieved if all stakeholders are on the same page. Especially in recent years, with the realisation of environmental damage, environmental impact has become an important issue in the tourism sector, as in all sectors, and various practices have been implemented to prevent this impact. It is particularly important that employees are actively involved in all the policies and practices that are implemented to reduce the sector’s environmental impact, and that these practices are implemented by employees, who play a fundamental role in the success of these practices. Based on this importance, this study investigated whether EC plays a mediating role in the relationship between GOI and EGB. The results of the study are discussed below.

Whether or not the hypotheses put forward as a result of the statistical analyses carried out to test the accuracy of the hypotheses proposed in this study are supported by the existing literature was determined by a literature review. The results of the analyses confirmed that GOI has a statistically significant and positive effect on EGB (Hypothesis 1 accepted). In line with this finding, it can be said that a positive approach to the idea of GOI on the part of the hotels participating in the research can lead to an increase in the level of green behaviour on the part of their existing employees. This result is similar to the findings of Chou, Zhu et al., Zafar et al., Cheng et al., Rajabi et al., Mirahsani et al. and Zafar et al. [42,43,44,45,46,47,48], which were conducted to determine the effect of GOI on employees’ green behaviour. Similarly, from a theoretical point of view, this finding that GOI has a positive effect on EGB supports the views of Tajfel’s [71] Social Identity Theory (1959–1974), the Expectancy and Improved Expectancy Theory [72] and the Behavioural Theories [73]. In addition, green organisational identity helps employees understand how individual tasks relate to corporate environmental activities and strengthens companies’ ability to understand and manage green business conditions [14].

As a result of the other analyses, it was concluded that GOI has a positive and significant effect on the EC variable (Hypothesis 2 accepted). Accordingly, it can be said that the idea of a GOI in the surveyed hotels positively increases employees’ understanding of EC. This result is in line with the findings of Chang and Chen [49] and Al-Zawahreh et al. [50], which were conducted to determine the effect of GOI on EC. García-López et al. [74] found that the factors that contribute most to EC are corporate image and legislation, while the factors that tend to prevent EC are cost and lack of information training, and Graci and Dodds [75] found that EC provides a competitive advantage.

Another result obtained in the research is that EC has a significant positive effect on EGB (Hypothesis 3 accepted). This result is similar to the results of studies by Davis et al. [4], Değirmenci and Aytekin [51] and Ye et al. [52] that were conducted to determine the effect of EC on EGB. It has been concluded that EC has a positive effect on pro-environmental behaviour and that environmental activism can increase pro-environmental behaviour when positive feelings about sustainability and conservation exist [76].

As a result of the statistical analysis conducted to determine the mediating role of EC in the relationship between GOI and EGB, it was concluded that environmental commitment has a partial mediating role in the effect of GOI on EGB (Hypothesis 4 accepted). From a careful review of the literature, there is no other study that examines the mediating effect of EC on the effect of GOI on EGB. This situation is the strongest aspect of the research. In addition, the research findings are of great practical importance to both managers and employees in the hotel industry.

Tourism makes a very significant economic contribution to national budgets. As such, companies operating in this important sector expect significant results from the people they employ in order to achieve relative superiority over existing competitors in the sector and to achieve high levels of performance and efficiency. In this framework, GOI is one of the most important variables that enable companies to achieve their main objectives, and it influences the way organisations understand EC. Organisations can survive in this field as long as they can maintain their GOI. This study also shows that GOI and EC have a significant predictive power with regard to EGB.

5.2. Limitations and Future Research

This research study, which aims to identify the direct and indirect effects between GOI, EGB and EC, also has a number of limitations that offer important opportunities for future research. The fact that this study cannot be conducted in a homogeneous number of tourism enterprises operating in the Muğla province of Turkey is considered an important limitation. Another limitation of the study is that this research is cross-sectional. In addition, some factors, such as the reluctance of people to participate in the survey for fear of losing their jobs as well as time and cost factors, are considered to be the main limitations of this study. In future studies, it might be possible to reduce the sampling error by conducting surveys at different times and interpreting the results from different samples.

This study is limited only to the employees employed in hotel establishments in the Muğla province, and tourism enterprises such as other hotels, food and beverage establishments and travel agencies are excluded from the scope. Despite all these limitations, it is believed that this study, which reveals the direct and indirect effects between GOI, EGB and EC variables, will contribute to the literature as well as to tourism companies, employees and managers by providing a different perspective to their business lives.