Customer pressure and restaurant employee green creative behavior: serial mediation effects of restaurant ethical standards and employee green passion

Purpose Today's consumers are aware of restaurants' effects on the environment and pressure them to implement green practices. As restaurant success largely depends on how employees meet customer expectations, employee green creative behavior (EGCB) is critical. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how to enhance EGCB by integrating a comprehensive set of three-dimensional components: external, organizational and individual factors. Design/methodology/approach Data analysis was conducted using responses from full-time employees in the US restaurant industry. The PROCESS macro was used to test the direct and indirect relationships between the study variables. A series of mediation analyzes were conducted to investigate the mediation effects of "restaurant ethical standards" and "employee green passion" on their relationships to "customer pressure" and EGCB. Findings The results verified a direct effect of "customer pressure" on "restaurant ethical standards" and EGCB. The study also demonstrated positive direct relationships of "restaurant ethical standards" - "employee green passion" and "employee green passion" - EGCB. The result showed that "restaurant ethical standards" and "employee green passion" sequentially explained the partial impact of "customer pressure" on EGCB. Practical implications The study recommends that restaurant managers acknowledge growing customer environmentalism and prepare to address their customers' stricter green requirements. Restaurants need to review their ethical standards on a regular basis to meet rising customer pressure. The study also offers empirical evidence regarding the importance of selecting employees who are passionate about sustainability and empowering them to encourage their green creative behavior. Originality/value Although past studies have introduced various determinants of employee creative behavior, they have mainly focused on organizational and individual-level factors but have ignored a critical external factor, which is customer pressure. The study addresses this research gap by investigating the interrelationships between customer pressure and EGCB through restaurant ethical standards (organizational-level) and employee green passion (individual-level).