Innovative Capability and Its Connection with Worker's Environmental Performance

Abstract

Purpose: Environmental contamination has lately been seen as a consequence of the rise in environmental challenges brought on by rapid industrial expansion. At this point, the current research asks an important question about what the factors are to motivate employees' green performance, increasing corporate sustainability. Research design, data and methodology:The current author selected total 19 items to obtain real data and achieve the purpose of this research. For measuring of the causality between the worker's innovative capability and green performance, the current author used the multiple regression statistical tool using U.S. 215 responses in four industry. Results: The statistical finding definitely indicated that there exists the causal linkage between two key factors (Innovation capability and green performance) as well as the strong direction between two constructs. As a result, the current author could accept all hypotheses, checking no existing the multicollinearity of the present constructs with 'TOL' and 'VIF' values. Conclusions: The present research concluded that literature and business management scholars and practitioners will benefit from this study's statistical results. Furthermore, rewarding staff creativity, encouraging quick answers to market movements, and incorporating technology into everyday operations are all ways that companies may cultivate an environmental stewardship culture.

1. Introduction1

Environmental contamination has lately been seen as a consequence of the rise in environmental challenges brought on by rapid industrial expansion. This pollution has caused global warming and other environmental issues. In addition, there are serious environmental risks with high production rates and non-green supply networks (Bakhsh Magsi, Ong, Ho, & Sheikh Hassan, 2018). In order to curb these effects caused by pollution, this research examines how employees should be empowered to be innovative to ensure innovation in product creation. Numerous previous studies have shown the need to enhance employees' soft skills to better equip them for the ever-changing environmental challenges that firms confront (Merriman, Sen, Felo, & Litzky, 2016). These earlier studies employed employee engagement and motivation as measurements, focusing on employee participation, the incentive to participate in environmental activities, and a reduced desire to discontinue environmental programs. The solution to this problem is employee innovation which should be upheld by management to ensure that employees are triggered to be innovative. This is achievable through the use of policies as it will be illustrated in sections that shall follow.

However, previous studies have concentrated on corporate environmental performance, which is defined as a measure of how a company's activities or commodities affect nature, as well as employee attitudes toward the implementation of environmental policies in order to allay corporate environmental concerns (Pradhan & Jena, 2016). Additionally, increased corporate sustainability has been connected to green employee behavior. May, Hao, and Carter (2021) claim that factors like organizational identity and trust modify the relationship between employees' "green" behavior and a business's long-term success. According to a number of studies, the environmental behavior of workers is directly related to the environmental performance of an organization (Gallego-Alvarez, Vicente- Galindo, Galindo-Villardón, & Rodríguez-Rosa, 2014). Environmental performance is a term that describes the activities, attitudes, and flexibility of employees in relation to the environmental goals set out by their business such as innovation.

It is harder for employees to deal with environmental problems on the job, and concerns have been raised about how they might become more resilient in the face of these challenges. Workers are expected to have the ability to swiftly adjust to changing work conditions (Bakhsh Magsi et al., 2018). According to the prior study (Bakhsh Magsi et al, 2018), in order for businesses to improve the environmental performance of their employees, they need to determine how rapidly people can adapt to various emerging environmental resilience measures. According to the study (May et al., 2021), using a corporate social responsibility approach to employees' "green" professional behavior may increase the effect of employee innovation on business sustainability. In order for these CSR projects to be successful, they need to be able to adjust to the changing requirements of the environment and the need for innovation.

In connection to workers' ecologically responsible behavior, a company's long-term viability has also been extensively studied. Numerous studies have looked at the impact of environmentally conscious corporate social responsibility efforts on long-term sustainability and economic success. According to previous research, male, older, and workers who consider themselves to be rich are more likely to engage in environmentally friendly workplace activities (Saifulina & Penela, 2016). Businesses may support staff members who wish to contribute to environmental protection by giving them the knowledge they need to engage in eco-friendly activities, according to the previous research group (Chen, Jiang, Li, & Gao, 2021). According to the study (Zhang, Yang, Cheng, & Chen, 2021), "green human resource practices" are those that put an emphasis on employing and teaching individuals to engage in environmentally friendly activities at work (innovation). It is believed that outstanding organizational sustainability may be facilitated by "green" HR practices. By discovering that employees' engagement and flexibility, as a result, may increase their environmental performance. Researchers in the studies by research groups (Chaudhary, 2017) and (He, Zhang, & Morrison, 2019) validated the results of the past study (Benn, Teo, & Martin, 2015) who stated that employees that have a high degree of adaptability are better able to deal with the ever-changing environmental challenges. Previous studies show that employees have a significant preference for natural resource management measures, including conservation efforts. However, if the declared goals of the organization do not address the major environmental concerns, they become more receptive to employing environmentally resilient solutions.

Adaptability and healthy working culture are essential for improving environmental performance. Values that foster openness and collaboration among coworkers are part of the company's organizational culture in this case. More learning-friendly cultures may be seen in companies that are adaptable rather than rigid. Learning opportunities may be more readily accepted if a business adopts a servant leadership model, such as the one used by a corporation. Being a leader motivates your employees to do their part in making the firm a success. By incorporating green human resource management into the company's culture, it may become more environmentally friendly (Kim, Kim, Choi, & Phetvaroon, 2019). Environmental sustainability in the workplace may be encouraged via good human resource management, according to previous research (Luu, 2019). According to the findings, OCBE is an effective method for influencing employees' views on environmental initiatives. Environment-related efforts are also supported under this strategy. Incorporating green concepts into the company's operations may help staff improve their environmental performance.

1.1. Research Direction

1.1.1. Problem statement

Employees innovation activities in a company help in eradicating the issue of environmental hazards and firm’s success. To establish the connection between these employees’ innovativeness and organization leadership is vital in this research topic. Therefore, this study explores the ways in which employees’ innovation is impacted by management activities. The study will therefore determine how employees’ innovative nature is undermined by organization’s leadership and the possible actions required to ensure effective innovative actions.

1.1.2. Research questions

1. What are the factors that motivate employees’ innovation

2. What is the role of organization culture in promoting employees’ innovations.

3. What is the relationship between employee adaptability and environmental performance

1.1.3. Research objectives

The objectives of this study were:

1. Determining how management can enhance employees’ behavior towards innovation in curbing the problem of pollution.

2. Determining how management should focus on green organizational culture to enhance employees’ green behavior

3. Determining how employees can help in the process of reducing pollution hazards through upholding organization policies.

Figure 1: The Purpose of the Current Research

2. Literature Review

Prior studies, writings, and articles on the employees' workplace behavior and innovation were examined. Journals with peer reviews predominated the review. However, peer-reviewed articles could not be confirmed as genuine; hence they were excluded from the research.

2.1. The Linkage between Employee Innovation and Green Performance

This research examines the idea of staff adaptation to establish whether or not there is a significant relationship between an organization's culture and the environmental performance of any internal activity. It is crucial to be able to quickly adjust and implement new, solid strategies if one is to succeed in the face of continuous environmental obstacles. Previous research showed that an individual's capacity to adjust to their working environment correlates with their level of emotional intelligence. Therefore, developing an employee's emotional intelligence equates to improving flexibility and creativity (Sony & Mekoth, 2016). This opens up the mind of employees and explore more innovative areas in connection to prevention of mass pollution.

An earlier study has shown that transformative leadership may increase workers' flexibility, which is beneficial (Wang, Demerouti, & Le Blanc, 2017). The organizational culture and workers' capacity to adapt is positively correlated. This is so because corporate cultures and leadership styles are strongly intertwined. According to the prior research (Carmeli, Brammer, Gomes, & Tarba, 2017), ethics of care are crucial in motivating staff members to establish lifelong work habits. This company's use of the Ethics of Care might promote flexibility and environmentally conscious conduct. Employee involvement in business activities can improve an organization's environmental sustainability and resilience. Businesses that deal with natural resources must be able to adapt to the needs of their workforce if they are to apply biodiversity practices successfully.

It has been demonstrated that the policies governing organizational citizenship significantly impact workers' flexibility. According to research (Boiral, Heras‐ Saizarbitoria, & Brotherton, 2019), employees who engaged in environmental activities were more likely to behave responsibly. Decentralizing operations has been demonstrated to help staff members adjust to new developments, such as incorporating green ideas into their work; they can develop their resourcefulness and tenacity as a result. The researchers' results show a definite correlation between an organizations’ level of decentralization when workers are engaged and its success in implementing “green” performance. This possibility highlights how important worker flexibility is for enhancing environmental performance. They are essential in laying the groundwork for a strong foundation that will support ongoing corporate operations.

Human resource leadership and empowerment approaches may impact an employee's capacity to adapt to environmentally responsible practices in addition to education and training. As a result, employees in training and education programs are better prepared to adapt to constantly changing environments. Flexibility has the added benefit of encouraging workers to participate more actively in environmental innovative activities. For example, membership as a Citizen in a Corporation, Workers are more likely to adopt environmentally friendly behaviors if human resource managers are actively involved in training and face-to-face contact with employees (Detnakarin & Rurkkhum, 2019). Therefore, management activities leading employees’ inclusiveness help in creating conducive atmosphere for innovative activities. This study indicates that "Employees' organizational citizenship behavior for the environment" (OCBE) functions as a middleman between employees’ adaptability and environmental performance. It is crucial to look at what makes people to adjust to the demands of their professions. According to the past research (Yoon & Kayes, 2016), team learning activities control how self-efficacious and open to learning each worker feels. Employee environmental attitudes and behaviors are influenced by training; this enhances contact and communication and increases employee understanding of environmental preservation methods. When their company offers them some degree of flexibility, employees are better equipped to adjust to the changing needs of the environment. Earlier research found that normative corporate cultures and the inculcation of green ideals in workers improved environmental performance. The authors contend that it is essential to recognize workers' efforts to promote knowledge transfer and their environmentally responsible conduct. It strongly emphasizes how education and training help individuals acquire the soft skills necessary to deal with environmental difficulties through innovation and the potential mitigation strategies they may use to combat the risks presented by the same environmental concerns.

Organizations should consider the best methods for modifying their workforces, such as various communication channels and health-conscious cultures (Kent, Goetzel, Roemer, Prasad, & Freundlich, 2016). It is possible to alleviate environmental problems by doing ecologically beneficial acts, and adopting healthy cultures can spread information about environmental resilience measures. The programs not only help improve the working environment but also motivate staff to do actions that are good for the environment (Zientara & Zamojska, 2018). According to the prior study (Raineri & Paillé, 2016), workers' environmental worries while working reflect their degree of adaptation and involvement in an organization's environmental policies. Numerous elements, such as the dynamics of each employee, the difficulties of management, and the corporate values, impact these kinds of commitments.

Green human resource management techniques influenced OCBE since they pushed the firm to pursue environmental initiatives while improving the organization's environmental performance. According to earlier research, increasing employee engagement is crucial to improving environmental performance. Clan culture favors environmental performance, but market culture has little bearing on workplace environmental performance.

There are several strategies management uses to trigger employees’ perceptions towards innovative activities on “green” behavior. One strategy to promote green habits at work is rewarding staff members who engage in eco friendly activities that help them, their colleagues, and the community at large. Employees encouraged to embrace environmentally friendly behaviors may later spread that culture to their coworkers, boosting environmental protection regulations via their capacity to adapt and innovate new solutions. Encouragement of staff members to use newly invented environmentally friendly methods may help achieve this. Indigenous and local knowledge systems provide a source of ideas for good stewardship that might be used for the conservation of the environment. For example, if we organized and maintained areas with high biodiversity, we could be able to aid in reducing environmental problems. The outcome of the essay supports the idea that is educating employees about environmental issues and encouraging them to share what they learn with their communities are effective ways to raise awareness of environmental issues among employees and protect the environment. Employees adapting to changing environments are more equipped to develop innovative solutions, even if the firm's goals do not meet the considerable environmental obstacles. This is true even if the organization's top priority is not the environment. It is feasible to conclude that an employee's capacity to be flexible in how they approach their work has a favorable impact on how well they perform in terms of the environment.

2.2. Research Gap

Previous research has attempted to investigate the link between a clan culture and market culture and how it relates to the environmental performance of workers. On the other hand, a significant number of research often concentrate on systematic reviews and theme comprehension. Very little empirical research has been done to investigate the link between an organization's environment and the environmental performance of workers such as innovative actions. In this particular investigation, the researcher felt compelled to undertake a descriptive study to get an empirical understanding of the link between the variables of workers' environmental performance, clan cultural traits, and market corporate culture (employees' behavior and performance). The majority of the research, including the ones that were discussed in the introduction, had an inadequately thorough focus.

The majority of previous authors explored the link between company culture and environmental performance via the implementation of CSR programs or the enhancement of employee participation. However, not much research has been done to examine the similarities and differences between organizational culture and market culture in terms of how they affect employee environmental performance. In light of this, the current researcher intends to close the gap by doing more studies to investigate the connection between employee environmental performance and clan culture as well as market culture. In conclusion, the current research offers a framework that can be used as a guide for environmental policymakers. This framework connects two distinct organizational characteristics—the adaptability competency of an organization and the cultural attributes of a clan—with the utilization of employees' green performance.

2.3. Research Hypotheses

All in all, Woo and Kang (2021) proved the positive relationship between the adaptability and green performance and two prior studies (Díaz-Fernández, López-Cabrales, & Valle-Cabrera, 2013; Kang & Lee, 2021) have strongly stated that worker’s adaptability characteristics and innovative competency can be overlapped and share some similar attributes so that the current author reasonably insists to be matched worker’s innovation capability with worker’s environmental capability. For this reason, based on previous related studies, the hypotheses of the present study may be the following to obtain the purpose of the research.

(1) First Hypothesis: Employees who possess the ability of setting out fresh ideas from a wide variety of sources and entertaining original solutions to problems might be matched positively with environmental performance.

(2) Second Hypothesis: Employees who possess the ability of generating new ideas and taking fresh perspectives and risks in their thinking might be matched positively with environmental performance.

(3) Third Hypothesis: Employees who do not possess the ability of setting out fresh ideas from a wide variety of sources and entertaining original solutions to problems might be matched positively with environmental performance.

(4) Fourth Hypothesis: Employees who do not possess the ability of generating new ideas and taking fresh perspectives and risks in their thinking might be matched positively with environmental performance.

3. Research Methodology

3.1. Selection of Items

The current author selected total 19 items to obtain real data and achieve the purpose of this research. Regarding the factor of innovation capability, the current author picked up 4 items and those items were borrowed entirely from the study (Díaz-Fernández et al., 2013). For the survey items of environmental performance, the prior study (Bakhsh Magsi et al, 2018) was chosen by the current author because Bakhsh- Magsi and his colleagues included numerous perspective of green performance and many prior studies already used these items widely for measuring worker’s environmental ability, showing high quality of the instrument. Table 1 indicates prior studies which were based on creation of survey items and all used resources showed a high level of content validity.

Table 1: Survey Item Information of the present study Total Number of the present study

3.2. Usable Data Information

The present author distributed the questionnaire via the famous online survey system which is a ‘Survey Monkey’ and could collect total 204 responses from U.S. employees who works in the four industry between 02/01, 2022 and 02/05, 2022). The present author eliminated 43 response because those responses unreasonably replied to the items, answering all questions as a same number or did not answer more than 15 percent.

The table 2 and 3 show the detailed information of the final dataset, presenting how the present author could collect the usable responses and what demographic information is for the current research.

Table 2: The Process of Obtaining Final Dataset

Table 3: Information of Final Survey Participants

4. Statistical Result

4.1. Reliability Test

As a first step of the statistical analysis, the current author conducted the reliability test which can gauze an internal consistency based on two key construct of the present research using the SPSS 24 software. As previously stated, two main factors are ‘Worker’s innovative capability and environmental performance. The statistical findings of reliability test indicated that the Cronbach Alpha value regarding the innovative capability (Four items) was within acceptable range, showing the value is greater than 0.7 (Kang & Lee, 2021).

However, regarding the environmental performance of workers (Fifteen items), the current author removed three items (Less than 0.7 of Cronbach Alpha value) in this construct so that finally, the Cronbach Alpha value could reach over 0.7, meaning that all items in this construct come together as one factor. The table 4 presents the internal consistency of main two factors.

Table 4: The Results of Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient

4.2. Multiple Regression Test

Unlike the correlational analysis and independent T-test, the regression analysis may measure the causal relationship between variables so that this statistical approach has been dominated by a number of researchers who would like to gauge not only the direction of variables, but also measuring the causal effect between variables (Park & Kang, 2022).

For measuring of the causality between the innovative capability and green performance, the current author used the multiple regression statistical tool and it implies the causal linkage between two key factors as well as the strong direction. As the table 5 indicated, all four hypotheses were accepted by the regression test, revealing the multicollinearity of the present construct does not exist (See the values of ‘TOL’ and ‘VIF’ in the table 5).

Table 5: Findings of Multiple Regression Analysis

5. Conclusions

Market cultures can only thrive in highly lucrative and competitive environments, according to most studies, but there aren't many studies looking at how they affect the creativity and innovative focus of employees. There was a negative correlation between market culture and environmental performance because of the competitive nature of the market.

Environmental performance and corporate culture may be improved by allowing people to adapt to changing situations and allowing people think freely without limits. Researchers have found a link between social support and increased capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Adaptability, or one's ability to adjust to one's environment, is a hot topic these days. A company's culture is shaped in part by its ability to adapt to new technologies, work together, and demonstrate civic responsibility and leadership. As part of the company's overall culture, employees are urged to enhance their environmental performance and innovative skills to contribute positively towards the common organization goal. Soft skills may be honed through environmental management strategies and strong training in green concepts in this case. It is also possible to build soft skills by regularly involving employees in environmental initiatives and getting them used to them. Even though environmental concerns are good, employees may be inspired, encouraged, and equipped to cope with them if they get training and instruction. Consequently, it was shown that organizations and their employees gain from their employees' ability to be flexible in their decisions leading to better innovative ideas.

Depending on how powerful they are, GSC aspirations may either help or hurt a team's performance. According to Wong et al. (2020), a GSC system that provides customer integration is critical for reducing costs and improving environmental performance among employees, as previously indicated. Kiessling, Isaksson, and Yasar (2015) discovered a connection between customer orientation and corporate social responsibility. CSR efforts are more likely to be implemented by companies with a green market focus. As a result of increasing employee and customer participation, environmental performance increases.

6. Implications

Literature and business management scholars and practitioners will benefit from this study's conclusions. Increased study on the impacts of employees' green behavior on firm success will have the greatest impact on academics. The innovation of personnel, organizational and market cultures, and the integration of technology into work practices are just a few of the topics that have been discussed. In light of these findings, we should investigate ways to promote a greener marketplace while also promoting employee engagement in green market cultures and innovations. As opposed to traditional market culture characteristics like rivalry and profitability, it's time to study how supply chain and market orientation might be turned green to boost environmental performance by workers.

Past research shows that green technology has a good effect on the environment (Singh, Giudice, Chierici, & Graziano, 2020). Because of this, green innovation has an impact on the OCBE via the leadership of green human resources. The outcomes and feedback from the environment play a major role in a company's choice to use GSC practices (Shou, Shan, Chen, Cheng, & Boer, 2020). Green financial management solutions have been linked to better sustainability performance because of the probable connections between market culture, sustainable energy, and other practices (Ionescu, 2020). Market culture, which is heavily reliant on a company's financial resources, should yield to worker environmental performance. It's vital to keep the company's leadership style in mind while making decisions.

According to the previous article (Al Rahbi, Khalid, & Khan, 2017), there is a clear link between leadership style and staff engagement and collaboration (2017). Different leadership styles, such as transactional and transformative, were shown to have a substantial impact on corporate citizenship; according to the prior research (Ahmet, 2016), Effective leadership styles, according to the study (Sawitri, Suswati, & Huda, 2016), also increase employee contentment and corporate citizenship. Research by the prior research group (Khan, Ismail, Hussain, & Alghazali, 2020) shows that leadership styles have a favorable impact on the creativity of employees and the behavior of organizations. Rewarding staff creativity, encouraging quick answers to market movements, and incorporating technology into everyday operations are all ways that companies may cultivate an environmental stewardship culture.

7. Limitations

In this study, several challenges undermined the process of research. To start with, the research was done in a rush due to the short timeline required to complete the research process. Inadequate time allocation for the research limited the information obtained from the literature. The limitation led to limited information collection on the topic.

Secondly, the study was undermined by irrelevance of some sources which seemed to be reliable. During the search for sources, some selected sources had irrelevant information since some information seemed to be overrated and exaggerated. These sources could not give the relevant evidence required in this study since the information wasn’t suitable for the study. This led to a second time into searching for more relevant and reliable sources on this topic.

Additionally, there was a challenge regarding the confidence of the information obtained since the research was primarily based on already done research and not fresh practical research. As the actual research was not done, there was no solid supporting evidence from a personal study. This made the research to be more theoretical other than practical. Therefore, confidence in the obtained information could not be substantial evidence on the topic without the practical bit of the search. Justification or nullification of the hypotheses was impossible since the theoretical evidence was insufficient to nullify or justify the hypotheses due to a lack of personally done research. This led to it being challenging due to the reliance on theoretical evidence.

Lastly, the online search of data made the research progress difficult as some articles were ignored due to limited access. Furthermore, the search of many resources was to curb the challenge of data similarity in most sources, thus posing another challenge of inaccessibility of the extra sought sources. In addition, finding peer-reviewed data