Interplay of Workplace Sustainability, Sustainable Work Performance, Optimism, and Resilience: The Moderating Role of Green Creativity in Luxury Hotels

Abstract

This research study validates the importance of addressing employees’ workplace sustainability through agentic traits such as optimism and green creativity, which motivate employees to perform and deliver in an organization. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 485 employees of various luxury hotels in India, applying PROCESS Macro to test the conceptual model, which was proposed for this purpose. The study’s findings add to and go beyond earlier research in the expanding field of workplace sustainability. Research in the field of sustainable goals is still in its infancy; however, through the establishment of various novel connections, this study contributes to our theoretical understanding of this area of study. Moreover, the paper outlines key managerial implications in helping comprehend how to build and maintain a positive outlook and inculcate creativity for sustainable work performance.

1. Introduction

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a vital component of current business functioning. A burgeoning number of companies have documented the relevance of reflecting on the future of both the planet and people for their long-term success [1,2]. An extensive body of research demonstrates the importance of sustainability and environmental issues that encourage a discussion concerning perspectives on human–nature relationships [3]. The foremost challenge to economic growth in terms of sustainability appeared between the 1960s and 1980s. Researchers [4,5] documented the existence of a connection between the growth and availability of natural resources, concentrating on the need to curb their misuse to maintain certain standards of wellbeing over time.

Studies from across the scientific literature leave little room for doubt about the degradation of natural resources and the decline in the healing capacity of natural systems (World Resources Institute, 2002; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003) [6]. The latent threat to the environment can be mitigated by developing sustainable goods/products and undertaking sustainable measures (sustainable practices) to prevent further harm. The Position Statement on Psychology and the Natural Environment from the Australian Psychological Association emphasized that the convergent and intertwined threats to the environment’s wellbeing include unsustainable lifestyles and practices in developed nations that exacerbate climatic change. These long-term consequences and far-reaching effects, which would eventually be calamitous and unsustainable, are being experienced by the entire community [7,8]. The principle is simple yet indispensable since sustainability will keep the business running without compromising its future needs [9].

In the 1980s, much methodical research demonstrated the global, cumulative, and irreversible effects of pollution (air, water, and soil) [10]. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) published the report “Our common future” (also known as the “Brundtland Report”), which is considered the pivotal point that spurred the development of the idea of sustainability, and which provided the first and most well-known definition of sustainable development (WCED, 1987) [11]. Obviously, the concept of sustainability is highly complex, and therefore, it is very difficult to capture the crux using a specific scale. The term “sustainably” refers to the transformation of core business activities, including strategy, business model, and operations, giving an organization a competitive advantage in achieving economic goals in a way that is both socially and environmentally responsible [12]. In most organizations, the idea of sustainability is associated with economic affluence, implying that financially well-off organizations are most likely to develop over time.

A large portion of the literature reiterates the fact that practices of sustainability invariably focus on the choice of minimal consumption of resources to realize reduced operating costs. They do, however, exhibit a sincere commitment to protecting the environment and society [13]. Further, researchers interested in the concept of organizational sustainability have explored the need to encourage proenvironmental behavior in the workplace [14,15]. Moreover, previous research findings suggest that the workplace climate is associated with the attitude and behavior of employees [16]. However, often, the psychological mechanisms used to understand the various factors that contribute to the perception of employees towards workplace sustainability have been confused [17]. Sustainable organizations are characterized by employees who are highly creative and focused on quality outcomes [18]. Organizations concerned with environmental management are gaining competitive advantages over other organizations [19]. Moreover, governments are actively focusing on managing the criteria to achieve a clearer and more responsible take on reaching the SDGs, for example, India’s “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” (Niti Ayog, 2017) [20].

Further, there are an increasing number of enquiries into which factors and how workplace sustainability behavior and performance could be enhanced. Explicitly, employees spend almost one-third of their lifetime in organizations [18]. Therefore, it is expected that, by practicing sustainable means of work and resource utilization at work, the burden on the environment can be reduced. Business and organizational evidence suggest that the attitude and values shared by employees may explain the superior and sustained performance of corporations [21]. Researchers showed that employees’ attitudes towards the adoption and implementation of various socially responsible and ethical practices are associated with sustained performance [22,23]. However, the creativity of employees, which produces a long-lasting competitive advantage, has not received much attention. Empirical evidence further demonstrates that employees’ creativity results in positive performance outcomes, innovation, and organizational longevity [24,25]. Considering the aforementioned points, this study aimed to investigate the linkage between the perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies and sustainable work performance (SWP). Based on the existing literature, this study conceptualizes that agentic traits, such as optimism and creativity, act as a mediating link between the perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies and sustainable work performance. In this way, the model reflects upon the relevance of the development and efficacy of workplace sustainability policy implementation and attempts to extend the literature on attributes such as creativity and optimism, along with proenvironmental behavior and sustainable work performance.

Luxury Tourism Industry: An Overview

One of the main engines of growth in India has been identified as the hospitality and tourism industry. India has a lot of potential in terms of tourism due to its rich and diverse cultural heritage [26]. It has resources such as medical tourism, adventure tourism, heritage tourism, and others. It is one of the largest employment generators and helps in generating foreign income. India’s tourism industry added 39 million jobs in FY20, or 8.0% of all jobs in the nation. It is hoped that by 2028, there will be 52.3 million jobs, an increase of 2% per year. However, with the spread of the COVID-19 strain, the sector incurred heavy losses, and the shutdown of the entire economy left no room for income generation. The employees working in this sector were the worst hit, and the entire industry started looking at some growth models as the industry witnessed a total revenue loss estimated at INR 89,813 crore in 2020. The relationship between sustainability practices, optimism, resilience, and sustainable work performance needs to be looked at in light of the characteristics of the luxury hotel industry. The luxury hotel industry faces higher attrition and less cultural diversity among its employees. Moreover, an employee’s educational background is not a reliable indicator of human resource management [27]. Service personnel and customers must have frequent, in-person interactions in this sector. Therefore, managing emotional exhaustion requires a sizable amount of psychological effort [28]. To overcome these obstacles and determine how much they improve performance, it is necessary to incorporate positive organization scholarship.

2. Theoretical Background and Hypotheses Development

2.1. Workplace Sustainability and Work Performance

The concept of sustainability dates back to the 1970s, when the UN defined sustainability as a “general world-view according to which people should strive to fulfill their needs in such a manner such that the ability of future generations to fulfil their needs is not endangered” [29]. The topic of sustainability is a contested one, and the literature is rife with efforts to define sustainability. There are alternative terms such as social sustainability, ecological sustainability, environmental sustainability, and human sustainability. Nonetheless, corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility have been used to explore the terminology of sustainability. According to a study conducted in a Chinese setting, corporate sustainability practices impacted organizational performance [30]. Another study showed that various factors, such as internal factors (e.g., social norms), affective factors (e.g., attitude towards the environment, values), cognitive factors (e.g., perceived environmental control), and external/situational factors (e.g., leadership support), enhance proenvironmental behavior, which results in increased output [31]. Researchers established that an employees’ personal values and adoption of sustainable policies result in high performance [22,32]. Sustainable work performance has been defined as “the coordination of financial, environmental, and social objectives in the delivery of core work activities in order to maximize value” [33]. Further, researchers suggest that proenvironmental behavior impacts the employee’s commitment and job satisfaction, which results in increased performance [34,35]. Moreover, a study among Swiss manufacturing companies suggested that organizational moves towards sustainability result in increased company performance [36]. This argument was further supported by a study conducted on US employees that suggested that incorporating sustainability efforts throughout the organization potentially affects the firm’s performance [37]. From this point forward, an organization plans to develop its human resources, including its social and environmental aspects, in order to improve work performance was adopted [38].

Inconclusive results have been obtained in terms of linking business performance to sustainability motivations and practices [39,40], and linking sustainability goals and the related practices to each other [41]. This is because earlier studies did not provide enough insight into the mechanisms that support learning and behavior change. Based on the aforementioned arguments, we contend that how employees perceive sustainability policies will likely have an impact on their ability to perform sustainable work, which highlights the key areas that should be prioritized in a new workplace in order to improve organizational performance.

H1. 

Employee’s perception of workplace sustainability policies is positively related with sustainable work performance.

2.2. Workplace Sustainability, Optimism, Resilience, and SWP

The world of work is changing continuously in a dynamic way, considering the unavoidable changes that are being made by various social, environmental, and technological developments and unanticipated incidents. The notions of positive psychology and sustainability have become the central tenets for many researchers [42,43]. Organizational sustainability is defined as keeping ‘the business going’ [44]. One of the vital constructs in ensuring workplace sustainability is emphasizing job performance to achieve organizational success [45,46]. Researchers asserted that a positive environment in the workplace predicts increased work performance [47]. Further, researchers found that positive psychology permeates the workplace and improves the positive functioning of employees [48]. The employees who shifted their focus from negative events to positive events showed increased performance in terms of job satisfaction and job effectiveness. In addition to the above, resilience acts as a significant mediator in the relationship between servant leadership and sustainability in an organization [49]. Further, adaptive resilience acts as a partial mediator between planned resilience and sustainable tourism development [50]. Moreover, the literature shows that resilience acts as a strong enabler of navigating stress in the workplace and acts as a significant mediator between self-efficacy and work engagement [51]. In addition, in an Indian setting and in the context of bringing about sustainable change in organizations, positive psychology has to be focused upon to increase positive outcomes in the workplace [52].

Studies established that creating and maintaining a sustainable workplace requires an understanding of individual outcomes (a positive outlook towards the future, happiness, etc.) and expectations from an individual’s work or job in order to deliver the requisite outcomes [53,54]. Optimism was described in the literature as a mental state or attitude connected to expectations about the social or material future, which is desired by the evaluator in terms receiving a personal advantage or pleasurable experience [55,56]. Resilience is “one’s ability to recover rapidly from hardship, conflicts and failure or positive events” [57]. In addition, psychological capital (hope, resilience, and optimism) mediates the relationship between sustainable behaviors and job performance in the Chinese context [57]. Another study argues that emotional intelligence in the postmodern era fosters and makes possible optimism and hope, which can help to improve the psychological aspects of sustainability and sustainable development [58]. The capacity of each person to cope with and adjust to changes in the workplace must be increased in order to support decent work. In a study conducted on SMEs, a positive outlook towards the highly volatile market and employee innovative behavior were shown to be required to achieve growth and sustainability for SMEs [59].

As per a survey conducted on nearly 800 individuals working on social justice, environmental sustainability, fear, optimism, and related issues, 40% of the respondents believed that the state of the planet and people would deteriorate, with little chance of improvement within their lifetime, and that a transition to a sustainable and just world is likely but will likely involve significant disruption and hardship [60]. Further, the optimism of an individual was largely based on hope for radical social and psychological change, considering perspectives at the local or global levels [58].

Despite the increasing interest in the intersections between positive attitudes, values, and the psychological and health literature, workplace outcomes in terms of sustainability and performance have not been explored and remain very limited [61]. Numerous researchers have investigated the role of optimism as a mediating variable in creative performance [62,63], work–life balance [64], subjective wellbeing [65,66], stress, interpersonal relationship [67], career [68], depression [69], demographics [70], and others. However, the relationship between optimism and workplace sustainability and performance remains underexplored. This study aimed to look into the mediating role of optimism in employees’ perceptions of sustainability policies and sustainable work performance, positing that optimism is goal-driven and a positive environment provides an explanation for individual wellbeing, psychological growth, sustainable behaviors, and other psychologically positive factors. Thus, we hypothesize the following:

H2. 

Optimism mediates the relationship between the perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies and sustainable work performance.

H3. 

Resilience mediates the relationship between the perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies and sustainable work performance.

2.3. Workplace Sustainability, Optimism, Resilience, and SWP: Moderating Role of Green Creativity

Few researchers have highlighted the relevance of environmental sustainability and creativity for developing individual learners and society as a whole [71]. The results of the creative process, the process of generating new ideas, and the development of environments that support the development of new ideas were the main topics of earlier research on creativity [72]. Creativity is defined as “the creation of a valuable, useful new product, service, idea, procedure, or process by individuals working together in a complex social system” or organizations [73]. Creativity can speed up the process of developing and implementing novel production structures and methods, which will enhance output in terms of caliber, efficacy, and performance. According to the consensus of psychologists, creativity is the capacity to produce novel work. The novel refers to something that is original and useful [74]. However, from the perspective of cognitivists, contradictory and convergent thinking, which both foster creative output, are the two types of thinking that creativity is concerned with [75].

Additionally, researchers have substantiated that creativity is a source of resources and increased energy efficiency, which turns into a foundation for sustainable policies and practices. It acts as a catalyst for the creation of novel products and services [76,77]. In a study of 31 Malaysian manufacturing companies, it was found that green values must be developed in terms of skills and creativity in order to produce green-centered creative ideas and workplace behaviors [78]. Going “green” enables businesses to make progress toward more sustainable developments, which improves performance and moves the company closer to sustainable goals [79]. In addition, organizations that encourage their employees’ creative ideas and provide support to individuals in this direction report improved performance [80].

Researchers have looked at creativity from many angles over the years, including how people’s beliefs affect creativity. One of the studies asserted that, although enough literature is available on creativity and the knowledge of creativity has advanced over the past 35 years, few attempts have been made to understand the relationship between creativity and sustainable work performance [81]. Further, a positive workplace environment often leads to creative ideas and thus affects employee outcomes [82]. Various researchers attempted to explore the role of creativity with numerous variables, such as intrinsic motivation and performance [83], transformational leadership, and organizational innovation [84]. Creativity is a rare, intangible, and nonsubstitutable resource that helps in gaining competitive advantage among others and significantly influences innovation and organizational performance [85]. Green creativity is defined as “the creation of new and useful concepts that have environmentally sustainable effects on goods, services, procedures, and practices” [86,87].

In addition, creativity is crucial for sustainability and resilience [86]. As reflected by the earlier literature in this domain, individualistic factors such as personality, self-efficacy, optimism, affect, cognitive processes, and social and intrinsic motivation significantly predict the creativity of an individual [88]. Keeping the same thought in mind, creativity differs from person to person and reflects the way in which everyone is different owing to different personalities. In line with the above discussion, the authors hypothesize the following:

H4. 

Green creativity moderates the mediated relationship between the perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies and sustainable work performance via optimism.

H5. 

Green creativity moderates the mediated relationship between the perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies and sustainable work performance via resilience.

In line with the above literature, Figure 1 shows the proposed research model for this study.

3. Methodology

3.1. Sample and Data Collection

This study collected data via random sampling (the lottery method) from the frontline employees working in luxury hotels in Northern India as listed in the Hotel Association of India directory. The participation of the respondents was voluntary, and they remained anonymous. A cover letter briefing the aims and objectives of the research was shared beforehand with the manager of the hotel, and the confidentiality of the research was guaranteed. A pencil and paper, and a structured questionnaire with a socio-demographical section was used to gather data, with the goal of learning more about each participant’s gender, age, education level, work role, and experience. A total of 485 usable responses were received after screening 530 questionnaires. Prior to gathering the data, the authors also carried out a pilot study to evaluate the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. For validating the analytical framework, we ran a pilot study with 30 participants who shared the same demographic data as requested in the final sample. The research topic was explained to the pilot study participants, and they offered some suggestions for changes to the questionnaire, which led to revisions based on their comments. The updated questionnaire was made available for data collection. The demographic details of the participants are listed in

Table 1. Demographic details of the respondents of the study.

Demographics (N = 485)	Numbers	Percentage (%)
Gender
Male	280	57.7
Female	205	42.3
Age (in years)
21–25	154	31.7
26–30	130	26.8
30–35	111	22.9
Above 35	90	18.6
Work Experience
Less than 1 yrs	136	28
1–2 yrs	161	33.2
2–3 yrs	81	16.7
3–4 yrs	66	13.6
Above 4 yrs	41	8.5

Note: N—sample size; yrs—years.

.

3.2. Measures

Perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies: This study used 1 item to ascertain whether luxury hotel employees perceived any presence of a workplace sustainability policy in their organization, wherein participants were asked to respond using ‘Yes’, ‘No’, or ‘Not sure’ [17]. The option of ‘Not sure’ was included in the study as it was highlighted and employed in previous research [88].

Optimism: This study made use of six modified items from the PsyCap scale [89], which was validated in an Italian context [87]. The sample item consisted of “I believe that all the problems occurring at work always have a bright side”. The responses were tallied using a 5-point Likert scale, with each point denoting a different response, ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree”.

Resilience: This study used 6 adapted items from the PsyCap scale [89], which was validated in an Italian context [87]. The responses were recorded by using the 5-point Likert scale, which ranged from (5) “strongly agree” to (1) “strongly disagree”. The sample item consisted of the following: “Although too much responsibility at work makes me awkward, I can get through to work successfully”.

Green Creativity: This was measured by using an abridged version of the 6-item green creativity scale [90]. The sample items included the following: “The members of the organization suggest new ways to achieve environmental goals”. The respondents recorded their replies based on a 5-point Likert scale, which ranged from (5) “strongly agree” to (1) “strongly disagree”.

Sustainable work performance: In order to measure sustainable work performance, a 10-items scale was used [91]. Sample items included the following: “I feel that my tasks are more challenging than my co-workers’” and “During the past six months, my actual performance at work has been decreasing day by day”. On a 5-point Likert scale, each item was rated from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree”. Given that the standard alpha value was 0.70 or higher and that the alpha for sustainable work performance was 0.872, the measure was deemed adequate for this study.

4. Analysis and Results

The study checked for missing data, normality, data homogeneity, and the presence of common-method bias (CMB) owing to the nature of self-reported questionnaires. Harman’s single factor test was used, which accounted for 37% of the variance. This was under the acceptable guidelines for CMB, i.e., less than 50% [92]. Each predicting variable reported VIFs (variance inflation factors) of less than 3, and hence, multicollinearity was not an issue in this study. Further, the research study used PROCESS macro (Model 4) developed by Hayes and Preachers [93] to examine the direct, indirect, and mediation effects simultaneously. We also used the conditional moderated mediation technique between both the mediators using Model 8 [93].

The bootstrap method provided the confidence interval (if CI is zero, then the indirect path is insignificant; otherwise, it is significant) around the indirect effect of workplace sustainability policies (independent variable) on sustainable work performance (dependent variable) via optimism, resilience (mediators), and green creativity (moderator). The confidence interval around the indirect effect of workplace sustainability policies (independent variable) on sustainable work performance (dependent variable) via optimism, as well as resilience (mediators), and green creativity (moderator) is provided by the bootstrap method. If the CI is zero, then the indirect path is insignificant; otherwise, it is significant. It was found that the mediating effects and moderating effects are best examined using the bootstrapping procedure [94]. According to earlier work, the bias bootstrap confidence intervals are able to produce more accurate estimates in comparison to the normal theory-based Sobel test as they do not demand a normal distribution for the data [93].

4.1. Descriptive Statistics

The descriptive statistics of the study are displayed in

Table 2. Descriptive status of the variables under study.

Variables	Mean	SD	1	2	3	4	5
1. PS	2.89	1.01	1
2. Optimism	3.01	1.05	0.439 *	1
3. Resilience	2.95	1.11	0.429 *	0.438 *	1
4. Green Creativity	3.12	0.97	0.238 *	0.214 **	0.313 **	1
5. SWP	3.25	1.21	0.489 **	0.431 **	0.518 *	0.415 **	1

Note: PS—perceived sustainability; ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.01; SD—standard deviation.

, reflecting the mean, standard deviation, and intercorrelations among the variables under study.

4.2. Reliability and Validity

A confirmatory factor analysis was used to check the convergent and discriminant validity. The composite reliability values and Cronbach’s alpha are displayed in

Table 3. Factor loadings, reliability, and validity of the constructs.

Variable/Items	Standardized Loadings	Composite Reliability	Cronbach’s Alpha	AVE	MSV	ASV
Optimism
Opt_1	0.801	0.951	0.912	0.745	0.307	0.193
Opt_2	0.854
Opt_3	0.900
Opt_4	0.944
Opt_5	0.872
Opt_6	0.929
Resilience
Res_1	0.836	0.911	0.889	0.679	0.321	0.231
Res_2	0.835
Res_3	0.952
Res_4	0.741
Res_5	0.842
Res_6	0.731
Green creativity
Gcreativity_1	0.834	0.895	0.867	0.588	0.343	0.217
Gcreativity_2	0.717
Gcreativity_3	0.723
Gcreativity_4	0.845
Gcreativity_5	0.795
Gcreativity_6	0.813
SWP
SWP_1	0.916	0.925	0.907	0.575	0.381	0.191
SWP_2	0.900
SWP_3	0.855
SWP_4	0.860
SWP_5	0.930
SWP_6	0.845
SWP_7	0.836
SWP_8	0.835
SWP_9	0.741
SWP_10	0.842

Note: SWP—sustainable work performance.

and were found to be within the acceptability criteria [95], i.e., above the threshold value of 70.

4.3. Hypothesis Testing

The study tested the relationship between PSP and SWP and the results indicated a significant and positive relationship, wherein β = 0.45 (p < 0.05). Hence, H1 was confirmed.

4.4. Measurement Model

A confirmatory factor analysis was used to check the overall fit of the five-factor model, including PSP, optimism, resilience, green creativity, and SWP. The results are depicted in

Table 4. Goodness-of-fit indices for the five-factor model.

Model	χ2/df	GFI	NFI	TLI	CFI	RMSEA
Five-Factor Model (T5)	1.17	0.87	0.98	0.99	0.99	0.021
One-Factor Model (T1)	7.62	0.576	0.91	0.84	0.91	0.13
Two-Factor Model (T2)	5.83	0.61	0.91	0.86	0.92	0.12
Three-Factor Model (T3)	12.62	0.83	0.78	0.76	0.79	0.12
Four-Factor Model (T4)	15.31	0.87	0.71	0.73	0.74	0.10

Note: The criteria for goodness-of-fit are as mentioned χ²/df (<3), GFI (≥0.80), NFI (≥0.90), TLI (≥0.90), CFI (≥0.90), RMSEA (≤0.08), N = 485, T5 = PSP, optimism, resilience, green creativity and SWP; T1 = PSP; T2 = PSP and optimism; T3 = PSP, optimism, and SWP; T4 = PSP, optimism, resilience, and SWP; NFI—normed fit index; CFI—comparative fit index; TLI—Tucker Lewis index; and RMSEA—root mean square error of approximation.

.

4.5. Mediation Analysis

The mediation results (Model 4) depicted in

Table 5. Mediation analysis.

IV	M	DV	Effect of IV on M	Effect of M on DV	Direct Effect	Indirect Effect	Upper Limit (CI)	Lower Limit (CI)	Total Effect
PSP	optimism	SWP	(a) 0.39 (SE = 0.04 **)	(b) 0.43 (SE = 0.07)	(C’) 0.27 (SE = 0.07) NS	0.11	0.21	0.18	0.39 (SE = 0.08 **)
	resilience		0.41 (SE = 0.03 *)	0.56 (SE = 0.11 *)	0.18 (SE = 0.06) NS	0.13	0.35	0.23

Note: IV—indirect effect; M—mediator; DV—dependent variable; PSP—perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies; SE—standard error; CI—class interval; NS—not significant; ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.01.

show that the direct relationship of PSP with SWP became insignificant with the addition of optimism (β = 0.27, 95% CI bootstrapping overlapped with zero; LL = −0.21, UL = 0.03), and resilience (β = 0.18, 95% CI bootstrapping overlapped with zero; LL = −0.07, UL = 0.01). However, the indirect relation of PSP with SWP via optimism was significant as the interval limits did not overlap with zero (β = 0.11, 95% CI bootstrapping; LL = 0.18, UL = 0.21) and resilience was significant (β = 0.13, 95% CI bootstrapping; lower limit = 0.23, upper limit = 0.35). Thus, the results support H2 and H3.

4.6. Moderation and Mediated Moderation

A moderated mediation is a condition in which a moderator influences the indirect effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable through a mediator [96]. A moderated mediation is an instance in which the moderator influences the indirect impact of an independent variable on a dependent variable through a mediator [96,97].

Table 6. Moderation and moderated mediation-conditional process analysis.

Variables Path	Interaction Term Effect				Conditional Effect
	b	Delta f	Upper Limit (CI)	Lower Limit (CI)	Green Creativity	Effect	SE	Upper Limit (CI)	Lower Limit (CI)
PSP-SWP by green creativity	−0.05	4.59 *	−0.057	−0.007	M−1SD M M+1SD	0.61 0.58 0.45	0.09 0.06 0.07	0.919 0.811 0.675	0.632 0.547 0.387
Variables Path	Index of Moderated Mediation				Conditional Indirect Effect
	b	SE	Upper Limit (CI)	Lower Limit (CI)	Green Creativity	Effect	SE	Upper Limit (CI)	Lower Limit (CI)
PSP-OP- SWP by green creativity	−0.02	0.00	−0.031	−0.017	M−1SD M M+1SD	0.21 0.18 0.15	0.03 0.01 0.02	0.119 0.111 0.075	0.313 0.296 0.223
PSP-RES-SWP by green creativity	−0.03	0.00	−0.019	−0.013	M−1SD M M+1SD	0.23 0.19 0.14	0.05 0.03 0.02	0.121 0.110 0.085	0.412 0.287 0.210

Note: age, gender, education, and type of employee were taken as control variables, bootstrapping at 10,000 samples, CI—class interval at 95% bias-corrected CI; OP—optimism; SWP—sustainable work performance; b—standardized coefficients, * p < 0.05.

shows moderation and the moderated mediation model (Model 8) by using a bootstrapping test for both optimism and resilience as mediators. The results suggest that moderated mediation exists, i.e., the bias-corrected class interval at 95% (for optimism as mediator = −0.03 to −0.02 and resilience as mediator −0.02 to −0.01) does not include zero. Thus, it indicates that conditional indirect effects through optimism increase as the level of green creativity increases. Moreover, conditional indirect effects through resilience decline as the green creativity of an individual decreases. Thus, this supports H4 and H5 of this study.

5. Discussion and Implications

The aim of this research was to study the mediating role of optimism and resilience in the perceived presence of workplace sustainability policies and sustainable work performance. The results indicated that employees’ perception of the presence of workplace sustainability policies is positively related with sustainable work performance. This highlights the importance of individual perception as it ultimately affects the firm’s performance and the work climate [17]. Additionally, the study assessed the moderating role of green creativity in this indirect effect. All the hypotheses were established in the study. This demonstrated that positive behaviors such as optimism and resilience contribute to sustainable work performance as they focus more on the positive outlook and help cope with the numerous demands of the market owing to ever-changing nature of the hospitality industry [98]. This can help organizations identify pessimistic employees as they are less resilient and do not bring much creativity in terms of performing in a sustainable manner in the workplace [81]. The study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature on sustainable work performance, optimism, green creativity, and perceived sustainability. The results reflect various insightful implications for both the academic and the practical world, which are discussed henceforward.

5.1. Practical Implications

The results of this study have many ramifications, particularly for the business world. Firstly, this study reflected on employees’ perception of sustainability practices in the workplace, which has an important role in sustainable work performance. Hence, it is important for organizations to invest heavily in sustainability, meaning turning the overall concept into a reality. Further, firms can transform their core business philosophy, activities, and model of doing business, strategic plans, and operations by executing more creative, competitive, and yet achievable goals in a socially and environmentally responsible way [12].

Secondly, the findings proved that resilience and a positive outlook are important constructs that are enhanced by an employee’s perception of sustainability and lead to sustainable work performance. This is also affected by the green creativity of individuals, which is crucial for sustainability and green values [79,99]. Hence, organizations should accordingly promote green creativity by developing and improvising employees’ perceptions of sustainability, which lead to sustainable work performance and ultimately green production.

Thirdly, this study suggests that employees’ creative abilities and the inclination to develop new ideas or innovate evolve when they perceive that their organization has sustainability practices, which ultimately leads to improved work performance. Therefore, strategists can look into the initiatives that drive creativity as it will lead to better and more sustainable work performance in an organization.

Additionally, in order to improve work performance, businesses can consider how people’s social nature and level of green creativity affect how they plan to set up their workforce overall.

5.2. Academic Implications

The dire need for survival and performance in a highly competitive yet COVID-19-stricken era helped us to understand and realize the real meaning of sustainability. This study is an attempt to add to the existing knowledge concerning sustainability and how it is influenced by green creativity. To our knowledge, the earlier literature only explored green creativity with organizational practices and innovation abilities [100]. Our study shows how optimism and resilience can improve sustainable work performance in the presence of green creativity.

Moreover, this study highlighted the mediating roles of resilience and optimism in employees’ perception of the presence of sustainability policies and overall sustainable work performance. Although prior research suggests that sustainability practices are chosen to reduce resource consumption in order to reduce operating costs, rather than out of a deeper commitment to society and the environment [13], this study demonstrates that they have a greater impact on employees’ sustainable work performance and play a crucial role in productivity.

This study expresses the opinion that the presence of sustainability policies at work and a positive outlook makes people more creative and enhances the cognitive abilities that contribute to enriching sustainable work performance. The foundation for this is laid by constructivist learning theories, learner-centered instructional design, and effective improvements in sustainability knowledge and attitudes.

The relationship between the various variables becomes strengthened with the presence of employees’ underlying passion, values, and interests, which may lead to green and sustainable work performance.

6. Limitations and Future Research and Suggestions

The present research has certain limitations that affect the interpretation of the findings. Firstly, the respondents were from a culturally diverse nation, India, which might indicate a predisposition, and hence, limit the generalizability of the conclusions of this research. Therefore, in order to further validate the results, more empirical evidence in other settings is desired.

Secondly, the data were collected from hotel staff, which might not be applicable for other industry/sector employees, and hence, owing to differences in the nature of the job, future research can be focused on the manufacturing, airline, IT/ITES, and other industries.

Further, future research could explore the same variables with other variables such as leadership, work–life balance, flexibility as the mediating variables, and productivity as the outcome variable. Lastly, upcoming research could build on the existing framework and seek to enlarge it with performance research-based theories.