Organisational support is not always enough to encourage employee environmental performance. The moderating role of exchange ideology

Research on environmental sustainability recurrently reports that when employees feel supported by their employer, they are prone to engaging extra efforts towards behaving in an eco-friendly manner and helping their organisation succeed. Following social exchange theory, which posits that partners are motivated by developing and maintaining mutual beneficial exchanges over time, the expected effect of support is dependent on exchange ideology, referring to the relevancy of reciprocated beneficial treatment. In this study, we report findings indicating that exchange ideology interacts with organisational support in influencing organisational citizenship behaviour towards the environment. We also show a moderation effect in predicting employee environmental performance solely at a high level of exchange ideology. In contrast, organisational support for the environment may not induce the expected effect on individual environmental performance for employees with limited or no dispositional orientation. This research adds knowledge to the emerging literature on social exchange in an environmental context. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.