The mediation role of green organizational culture in the effect of ethical leadership on environmental performance: An application in manufacturing enterprises in Elaziğ province

This study examines the relationships between ethical leadership, environmental performance and green organizational culture in order to reveal how sustainability-oriented transformations in today's organizations are shaped by strategic leadership. The main purpose of the study is to reveal the mediating role of green organizational culture in the effect of ethical leadership on environmental performance In this context, a relational survey model was adopted in line with quantitative research methods over a sample of 296 employees working in small-scale textile enterprises operating in Elazığ province. The findings of the study show that ethical leadership strengthens employees' perception of environmental performance and this relationship is largely shaped through green organizational culture. According to the data obtained, there is a strong and positive relationship between ethical leadership and environmental performance (r = ,845), and the relationships between ethical leadership and green organizational culture (r = ,826) and green organizational culture and environmental performance (r = ,905) are also quite high. Moreover, mediation analyses using Hayes' PROCESS Macro Model 4 revealed that green organizational culture acts as a partial mediating variable in the relationship between ethical leadership and environmental performance. In the demographic difference analyses, it was found that age, marital status and professional experience variables had significant effects on the perceptions of environmental performance and green organizational culture; however, there were no significant differences according to gender and education level. The results of the study show that ethical leadership in organizations affects not only employee attitudes but also corporate environmental awareness and sustainability culture. In this context, the development of management approaches based on ethical leadership will contribute to both increasing environmental performance and institutionalizing a sustainable organizational culture. In this respect, the study makes an important theoretical and practical contribution to the fields of sustainable leadership and organizational environmental management. Keywords: Ethical Leadership, Environmental Performance, Green Organizational Culture