Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how visionary leadership influences employees’ creativity in R&D teams in China, and the role of employee knowledge sharing and goal orientation.Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted on 331 professional technical engineers in R&D departments of 62 high-tech corporations in China. Hierarchical regression was used to model the relationships between visionary leadership style, employee goal orientations, knowledge sharing and employee creativity.Findings: The results show that visionary leadership is positively associated with employee creativity in Chinese organizations and the relationship is positively mediated by employee knowledge sharing. Furthermore, employee “learning goal” orientation strengthens the relationship between visionary leadership and employee knowledge sharing, whereas employee “performance-avoid goal” orientation weakens the relationship between visionary leadership and employee knowledge sharing.Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on the effects of leadership on employee creativity by showing that, contrary to western organizations, where a less directive leadership style is generally recommended to enhance employee creativity, in Chinese organizations, visionary leadership is positively associated with employee creativity, but the effect is contingent on employees’ goal orientations and knowledge sharing.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the psychological mechanism linking green human resource management (GHRM) to the in-role and extra-role green behavior of new employees.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the AMO framework, the authors used three-wave survey data from 399 newcomers and 103 superiors in China. This study uses the bootstrapping approach with Mplus 7.0.Findings: The analysis shows the direct effect of GHRM on the in-role and extra-role green behavior of new employees as well as the mediating effects between perceived insider status and perceived external prestige.Originality/value: This study expands research on GHRM to the in-role and extra-role green behavior of new employees. This paper also enhances the understanding of green behaviors inside and outside the roles of new employees and provides scientific implications for the green development of organizations.

Purpose: Drawing from the resource-based view and social information processing theory, this study explores the role of green servant leadership on organizational green performance and the mechanisms underpinning this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: This study focuses on the textile industry in Pakistan, known as one of the most environmentally polluting sectors globally. Data were collected from 32 textile companies in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Using a purposive sampling approach, we distributed questionnaires in two phases with a two-week interval. In the first phase, 800 surveys were distributed, resulting in 457 valid responses for the second phase of data collection. Findings: Our findings shed light on the relationship between green servant leadership and organizational green performance through the mediating role of employees’ green creativity, particularly in the presence of higher levels of green psychological climate. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that employees’ green creativity and voluntary pro-environmental behavior sequentially mediate the relationship between green servant leadership and organizational green performance. We also found evidence for the interaction between green psychological climate and employees’ green creativity in enhancing organizational green performance. The implications of these findings for both theory and practice are discussed in this study. Originality/value: This study offers a significant contribution to the literature by exploring the multifaceted drivers of organizational green performance. It integrates the roles of green servant leadership, green creativity, voluntary pro-environmental behavior and green psychological climate, presenting a holistic understanding of how leadership influences sustainability outcomes. By introducing serial mediation through employees’ green creativity and voluntary pro-environmental behavior, the research provides new insight into the mechanisms underpinning these relationships. Furthermore, the inclusion of green psychological climate as a moderating factor advances theoretical discussions on contextual influences in green servant leadership. Beyond theoretical contributions, this study offers practical guidance for managers and policymakers by identifying actionable strategies to foster environmentally responsible workplace behaviors, promote innovative green practices and align organizational policies with sustainability goals.