Planning to Act Green: A Systematic Review of the Theory of Planned Behavior in Employee Green Behavior Research

This systematic review synthesizes empirical applications of the theory of planned behavior to employee green behavior, including only studies that are consistent with the theory’s assumptions and methodological requirements. In doing so, the review reconciles a fragmented, discipline-specific body of knowledge, provides a rigorous assessment of the TPB’s validity in organizational contexts, and clarifies standards for theory-consistent refinement and extension. Seventeen peer-reviewed articles published since 2011 were retained after independent screening. Findings indicate a marked increase in TPB-based research since 2020, predominantly in Asian contexts, and a strong reliance on extended models—most frequently including personal norm and seldom organizational factors—while relatively few studies implemented the traditional framework with measures of salient beliefs. Most investigations focused on resource-conservation behaviors defined at a high level of generality and relied on convenience samples of employees from heterogeneous organizational and industrial settings. Across studies, belief-based constructs were positively associated with intentions, with attitudes as the strongest antecedent, and intentions consistently predicted behavior. At the same time, many investigations relied on cross-sectional self-reports and assessments of either intention or behavior. Finally, most studies fail to provide theoretical and empirical justifications for including additional relationships. Implications for advancing TPB-based research on employee green behavior are discussed.