Environmental leadership and green intellectual capital: the roles of green human resource management and environmental climate

Purpose Based on upper echelons theory and social contagion theory, we investigate how environmental leadership affects GIC via green human resource management (GHRM) and examine the moderating role of environmental climate. Design/methodology/approach We conduct hierarchical regression and use the bootstrap method to analyze the two-waved data from 317 Chinese manufacturers in order to verify the hypotheses. Findings The results indicate that GHRM mediates the impacts of environmental leadership on green human capital, structural capital and relational capital. In addition, environmental climate strengthens the positive impact of environmental leadership on GHRM. Originality/value Our study enriches the literature on GIC by uncovering the “black box” between environmental leadership and GIC, providing a logical framework opposite to mainstream GIC research, and expanding the boundary condition for GIC accumulation. This study provides more logical paths for enterprises and governments to increase the accumulation of GIC and promote green intellectual economy development.