Transforming environmental leadership into environmental performance: The mediating role of green intellectual capital

Abstract According to upper echelon theory, this research seeks to explore how environmental leadership (EL) influences environmental performance through green intellectual capital (GIC), while also considering environmental climate as a moderator. We analyze the data from 317 Chinese manufacturing companies in two waves to test these hypotheses. The findings suggest that EL positively affects environmental performance via green structural capital and green relational capital (GRC). Moreover, environmental climate strengthens the impacts of EL on green human capital and GRC. This research enriches the existing literature on EL and GIC by revealing the vital roles of EL in promoting environmental performance and GIC, as well as explaining the mechanism between these relationships.