Abstract: With the frequent occurrence of global environmental problems, energy conservation and emission reduction have become common topics of international concern. In this context, China has demonstrated its commitment as a great power by making a solemn pledge to “achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060” (carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goal). Green transformational leadership-a type of leadership behavior aimed at leading employees to solve environmental problems in the workplace-is crucial to the realization of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals”, and thus has become an important theme in academic research in recent years. This kind of leadership incorporates environmental issues into daily management practices and guides employees toward green actions through various environmental incentive strategies, such as green influence, green inspirational motivation, green intellectual stimulation and green individualized consideration. Previous research has focused primarily on the impact of green transformational leadership on employees' green performance while neglecting employees' voluntary green behavior. Voluntary green behavior refers to employees' self-initiated environmentally friendly actions that are beyond organizational requirements and without formal rewards. Therefore, to motivate employees to actively fulfill their environmental responsibilities and achieve “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals”, it is essential to examine the relationship between green transformational leadership and employees' voluntary green behavior.
Based on the affective events theory, this study explores the effects of green transformational leadership on employees' voluntary green behaviors as well as the mediating role of natural emotional connectedness and the moderating role of power distance orientation. The affective events theory emphasizes that work events shape employees' attitudes and behaviors by affecting their emotions and that individual characteristics play a moderating role in this process. Green transformational leadership, as a kind of work event, can shape employees' emotions towards nature and cultivate their natural emotional connection. When employees have stronger natural emotional connectedness, they will continuously focus on environmental issues, consciously safeguard environmental interests and further demonstrate voluntary green behavior. Additionally, as an individual characteristic, the power distance orientation determines the degree of respect and trust employees have for their leaders. Employees with high power distance orientation are more likely to be influenced by green transformational leaders and develop a natural emotional connection, thus engaging in voluntary green behaviors.
To test the above hypotheses, this study collects data from 305 leader-employee dyads from 83 teams at three time points to conduct a multilevel analysis. The results show that green transformational leadership positively predicts employees' voluntary green behavior and that employees' natural emotional connectedness plays a mediating role in the above relationship. In addition, employees' power distance orientation positively moderates the relationship between green transformational leadership and employees' natural emotional connectedness, and green transformational leadership has an indirect positive effect on employees' voluntary green behaviors through natural emotional connectedness.
By revealing the relationship between green transformational leadership and employees' voluntary green behavior, this study makes an important expansion of the previous research on green transformational leadership. Secondly, based on the affective events theory and using natural emotional connectedness as the core perspective, this study establishes a connection between the two research domains of green transformational leadership and employees' voluntary green behavior. In addition, this study uncovers the moderating effect of employees' power distance orientation, which not only clarifies the boundary conditions of the relationship between green transformational leadership and employees' voluntary green behavior, but also responds to the call for “strengthening indigenous research on leadership behaviors”.
This study provides three inspirations for green management in organizations. First, organizations need to actively cultivate leaders' green transformational leadership, creating a supportive environment for employees' voluntary green behavior. Second, leaders should be aware of the importance of natural emotional connectedness in daily management and focus on cultivating employees' natural emotional connectedness. Finally, leaders need to consider the role of employees' power distance orientation and pay attention to the differences between employees.

Key words: Green Transformational Leadership, Natural Emotional Connectedness, Power Distance Orientation, Voluntary Green Behavior

摘要： 基于情感事件理论,探究绿色变革型领导对员工自愿绿色行为的影响机制。本研究分三个时点搜集了83个团队305份领导员工配对数据,并进行多层次分析。结果表明:绿色变革型领导正向预测员工自愿绿色行为,员工自然情感联结在上述关系中发挥中介作用。此外,员工的权力距离取向正向调节绿色变革型领导与员工自然情感联结的关系,以及绿色变革型领导经由自然情感联结对员工自愿绿色行为的积极作用。本研究拓展了学界对员工自愿绿色行为激发因素的认识,同时为企业的绿色管理实践提供了新启示。

关键词: 绿色变革型领导, 自然情感联结, 权力距离取向, 自愿绿色行为