Exploring the Relationships Between the HEXACO Personality Dimensions and Employee Green Behavior

Abstract

In recent decades, more and more organizations have set environmental sustainability goals. For organizations that want to realize their environmental sustainability goals, it is necessary to have employees who act in accordance with these goals. Employee green behavior (EGB) refers to workplace behaviors that contribute to environmental sustainability. Despite that different antecedents of EGB have been widely researched, the relation between personality and EGB is relatively unexplored. The aim of this study was to examine the relations between the HEXACO personality dimensions (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) and EGB. Personality was measured by the HEXACO-60 questionnaire. EGB was measured by a questionnaire containing 14 items. The respondents (N = 1 341) consisted of workers in Swedish municipalities. Exploratory factor analysis showed that EGB could be divided into two factors: Individual/Practical EGB and Social/Non-practical EGB. However, Individual/Practical EGB showed low reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .48). Overall EGB (i.e., the 14 EGB items transformed into one variable) showed acceptable reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .89). Bivariate correlation analysis showed that Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience were statistically significantly related to Overall EGB (r = .20, .25, .11, .16., and .28, respectively). After controlling for age, gender, educational level, and occupational area, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience remained statistically significantly related to Overall EGB. Practical implications of the results as well as future research directions are discussed.