HOW INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP ENHANCES EMPLOYEE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR IN TOURISM INDUSTRY: MEDIATING ROLE OF PRO-SOCIAL ATTITUDE AND MAN-NATURE ORIENTATION

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the global tourism industry has intensified environmental and social challenges, making the promotion of employees' socially responsible behavior (ESRB) a critical concern for sustainable tourism development. While leadership is widely recognized as an important antecedent of employee behavior, limited research has examined the psychological mechanisms through which inclusive leadership (IL) influences ESRB, particularly within the tourism sector of developing regions. This study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of inclusive leadership on employees' socially responsible behavior in the tourism industry of Hazara Division, Pakistan, while examining the mediating roles of pro-social attitude (PSA) and man–nature orientation (MNO). Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the study proposes that inclusive leadership shapes employees' socially responsible behavior both directly and indirectly through these two psychological mechanisms. Data were collected from 283 employees working in hotels, guest houses, travel agencies, and tour operators across Hazara Division using a cross-sectional survey design and convenience sampling technique. All constructs were measured using validated scales, and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity, while the structural model exhibited a good overall fit to the data. Bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples was employed to test the mediation hypotheses. The results reveal that inclusive leadership has a significant positive effect on employees' socially responsible behavior, pro-social attitude, and man–nature orientation. Furthermore, both pro-social attitude and man–nature orientation were found to significantly and positively mediate the relationship between inclusive leadership and employees' socially responsible behavior, confirming that these psychological mechanisms serve as important pathways linking leadership practices to responsible workplace conduct. These findings extend the Theory of Planned Behavior by integrating social and environmental psychological mechanisms within a single framework and offer novel empirical evidence from an underexplored tourism region. The study contributes theoretically by advancing understanding of the dual social-environmental pathways through which inclusive leadership fosters sustainability-oriented employee behavior, and practically by providing actionable insights for tourism managers seeking to cultivate inclusive leadership practices, strengthen pro-social attitudes, and enhance environmental awareness among employees. The findings suggest that integrating inclusive leadership into core organizational objectives can meaningfully advance sustainable tourism development, particularly in emerging tourism destinations such as Hazara Division, Pakistan