There is a growing interest among researchers in examining the effects of green (environmental) strategies or activities on the outcomes of both employees and an organization. At the same time, the role of organizational identification in the relationship between organizational environmental orientation, and the efforts and participation of employees is examined (Gabler et al., 2014). It was found that employees identified with the organization can contribute to its facing green challenges from the environment (adapted from Chen, 2011). Consequently, organizational identification needs to be constantly improved.

Some of the effects of organizational identification at the individual level are the effects on work engagement and employees’ job satisfaction (Karanika-Murray et al., 2015), organizational commitment (Hernández-Díaz et al., 2017), employees’ retention (Bharadwaj et al., 2021), employees’ customer-oriented behaviour (Ferdous, Polonsky, 2014). Besides, organizational identification is one way to motivate employees to achieve better performance (Bjerregaard et al., 2017; Miao et al., 2019; Wieseke et al., 2009). Therefore, it is important that an employee is highly identified with his/her organization.

Previous empirical studies confirmed that employees’ organizational identification can be improved by internal marketing (Bailey et al., 2016; Boukis et al., 2015; Ferdous, Polonsky, 2014; Hernández-Díaz et al., 2017; Wieseke et al., 2009) as well as by job satisfaction (e.g. Bailey et al., 2016). However, there is a lack of studies in which the primary goal was to examine the relationship between internal green marketing and employees’ organizational identification as opposed to studies in which the primary goal was to examine the relationship between internal marketing and employees’ organizational identification. Besides, there is a lack of studies examining the relationship between employees’ satisfaction and organizational identification in the internal green marketing context as opposed to the internal marketing context. Given the growing need to implement green strategies, and to align the organizations’ green marketing strategy “with the behavior of their employees who are expected to serve and implement it” (Papadas et al., 2019, p. 636), the question arises whether there is the relationship between internal green marketing (internal green marketing strategy - Papadas et al., 2019) as well as employees’ satisfaction in the context of internal green marketing, and employees’ organizational identification. According to the above, the aim of this paper was to determine whether there is a relationship between all dimensions of internal green marketing (green internal communication, green skill development, green rewards) and employees’ organizational identification as well as between employees’ satisfaction and employees’ organizational identification.

The findings of this research can contribute to a better understanding of the importance of internal green marketing in today’s business environment. Also, the results can be useful to researchers in the field of internal green marketing and green human resource management. Since there is a lack of empirical research in this area, the findings can encourage management to apply internal green marketing and use its potential in terms of designing programs to improve employees’ organizational identification through internal green marketing dimensions. This is especially true for managers of organizations in less developed countries such as the Republic of Serbia.

The paper consists of several parts: conceptual research framework, the methodological framework of research, results and discussion, conclusion, theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and future research directions. Acknowledgment and the list of literature follow.

Conceptual research framework

According to Qureshi and Mehraj (2021, p. 6 of 19), internal green marketing is “the extent to which an organization involves endorsing environmental values and develops a wider corporate green culture across the organization”. Internal green marketing (orientation) reflects the extent to which employees and other internal stakeholders assimilated of environmental values of organization (Papadas et al., 2017). Employees’ satisfaction in the context of internal marketing is achieved by meeting their needs, i.e. by offering internal products - jobs (Berry, 1981). From the social identity theory perspective (Tajfel, Turner, 1979), organizational identification reflects the attitude of an employee towards her/his organization as a collective. The relationship between internal green marketing, employees’ satisfaction, and organizational identification is supported by social identity theory. This explains that individuals (employees) under the influence of internal (green) marketing programs identify with their organization and consequently strive to achieve (green) organizational goals.

Previous empirical studies on internal marketing confirmed: the indirect effect of internal marketing on employees’ organizational identification through job satisfaction (Bailey et al., 2016); the indirect effect of front-line employees’ experience of internal marketing programs on employees’ organizational identification through their perception of internal marketing orientation (Ferdous, Polonsky, 2014); the direct impact of internal marketing initiatives on organizational identification of customers-contact employees (Hernández-Díaz et al., 2017); positive effect of individual perceptions of internal marketing on organizational identification of employees (Boukis et al., 2015).

In scarce empirical studies on internal green marketing such as the study of Papadas et al. (2019), its impact in interplaying with strategic green marketing orientation on competitive advantage was examined. Internal green marketing was observed through a few items (Papadas et al., 2017, Table 7, p. 241). According to Qureshi and Mehraj (2021, Table 3), internal green marketing includes green internal communication, green skill development, and green rewards. These dimensions of internal green marketing are accepted in this paper as well. However, in this paper green internal communication, green skill development, and green rewards are examined individually, not from the perspective of the global measure of internal green marketing. To these dimensions a dimension was added – employees’ satisfaction based on the findings that employees’ job satisfaction in the context of internal marketing affects the organizational identification of employees (Bailey et al., 2016).

The purpose of green internal communication is to inform employees about the green values of the organization, in order to spread these values among employees (Wells et al. 2015); to promote environmental awareness in the organization (Papadas et al., 2019; Qureshi, Mehraj, 2021), and the development of environmental dimensions of corporate culture (McDonagh, Prothero, 2014; Qureshi, Mehraj, 2021), i.e. to spread green culture in the organization (Chaudhary, 2020). In this paper, green internal communication was observed as the communication whose purpose is to promote green awareness in the organization and spread green values and culture.

Green skill development includes activities such as green education and green training in the organization in order to raise environmental awareness for all employees (McDonagh, Prothero, 2014; Qureshi, Mehraj, 2021). In this paper, green skill development was observed in this way, because „embedding environmental knowledge and green organization culture encourages employees to develop skills and abilities to implement successful environmental strategies“ (Qureshi, Mehraj, 2021, p. 6 of 19).

As the component of internal green marketing – green rewards include rewards for employees who contribute to environmental protection (Chen et al., 2015; Fraj et al., 2015; Menguc et al., 2010 as cited in Qureshi, Mehraj, 2021).

Since satisfied employees are one of the goals of internal marketing, employees’ satisfaction is the result of caring for them and their needs, which are met by offering internal products (Berry, 1981). In this paper employees’ satisfaction was observed in the context of internal green marketing, which does not exclude the fact that it is its goal.

Organizational identification of employees is the “perceived oneness with an organization and experience of the organization’s successes and failures as one’s own” (Mael, Ashforth, 1992, p. 103). In previous studies, organizational identification was observed according to Mael and Ashworth (1992). The observation of organizational identification by Mael and Ashforth (1992) was accepted in this paper.

To authors’ knowledge, no previous research on internal (green) marketing or organizational identification has examined the relationship between internal green marketing dimensions and employees’ organizational identification. Having in mind the importance of employees’ organizational identification in the organization’s response to environmental challenges, on the one hand, and the need to care for employees and the environment, on the other, this paper tested the relationship between internal green marketing dimensions, employees’ satisfaction, and employees’ organizational identification based on the results of studies on organizational identification in the context of internal marketing (Bailey et al., 2016), in the context of internal communications (Milanović, Radosavljević Njegić, 2019), and in the context of green human resource management (Chaudhary, 2020). All this research confirmed the positive influence of the dimensions, programs, or activities of internal marketing, employees’ satisfaction, and the dimensions of green human resources management (which overlap with the dimensions of internal green marketing) on the organizational identification of employees.

According to all the above, it was assumed that:

   H1: There is a significant positive relationship between green internal communication and employees’ organizational identification

H2: There is a significant positive relationship between green skill development and employees’ organizational identification

   H3: There is a significant positive relationship between green rewards and employees’ organizational identification

   H4: There is a significant positive relationship between employees’ satisfaction and organizational identification of employees.

Methodological framework of research

Data collection for hypotheses testing was done through a structured questionnaire. The survey (Google Form) was conducted in various organizations operating in the Republic of Serbia in the period March – June 2022. From 695 distributed questionnaires by a random sampling method, 173 completed questionnaires were returned (the response rate was 24.8%). Questionnaires were filled out by employees.

Regarding sample demographics: 66% of respondents were females, whereas 34% were males. The age distribution of respondents is following: 18% of respondents range in age <31, 30% of respondents range in age from 31 to 40, 28% of respondents range in age from 41 to 50, 14% of respondents range in age from 51 to 60, and 10% of respondents range in age >60. The educational distribution of respondents is following: 14% of respondents have secondary education, 83% of respondents have higher education, and 3% are in the category “rest”. Regarding the working experience of the respondents, 35% of them have <10 years of work experience, 35% have 11-20 years of work experience, 20% have 21-30 years, 7% have 31-40 years, and 3% >40 years of work experience. Of the total number of respondents, 39% are in managerial positions and 61% are in non-managerial positions. The majority of respondents are employed in service sector organizations (90%).

Green internal communication, green skill development, and green rewards as the dimensions of internal green marketing were described with 5 questions each (the scale: Qureshi, Mehraj, 2021). Employees’ satisfaction was described with 5 questions (the scale: Huang et al., 2019). Organizational identification of employees was described with 7 questions. To measure organizational identification, the scale developed by Mael and Ashforth (1992) was used. The statement of the employees’ level of awareness of belonging to their organization (a cognitive aspect of organizational identification) was added to this scale. Respondents rated the extent to which they agree with the offered statements in the survey (a scale from 1 to 5; 1 - do not agree at all or to a very small extent; 5 - completely agree or to a very large extent).

The data were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. Statistical data processing was done using the IBM SPSS (version 25) software.

Results and discussion

The reliability of the scales was tested by using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (Table 1).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics; Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α)

Source: Authors’ calculation

Since all scales were shown to be reliable (Table 1; see: α), further examination was justified by this result. In order to test the hypotheses, composite measures of all variables were computed by summarizing the scores for each indicator relating to the variable. In the first step, correlation analysis was used to detect the relationship between the observed variables. Determining the relationships between organizational identification and other observed variables was supported by Pearson’s correlation. The result of this analysis is presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Correlations between observed variables – the Pearson’s correlation coefficients

Source: Authors’ calculation

Note: ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

The obtained results showed that employees’ organizational identification correlates strongly with each dimension of internal green marketing (p=0.01). There is a strong and positive correlation: between employees’ organizational identification and employees’ satisfaction, between employees’ organizational identification and green internal communication, between employees’ organizational identification and green skill development, and between employees’ organizational identification and green rewards. The positive coefficients of correlation (Table 2) indicate that improvements in green internal communication, green skill development, green rewards, and employees’ satisfaction would correspond to an increase in employees’ organizational identification.

After it was confirmed that the correlation between the observed variables exists, a series of simple bivariate regression analyses were conducted in order to test the hypotheses. The independent variables were: green internal communication, green skill development, green rewards, and employees’ satisfaction. Organizational identification was the dependent variable in all regressions. It was tested separately if there is a relationship between independent variables and organizational identification as a dependent variable. The results of the series of bivariate regressions are summarized in Table 3.

Table 3. Statistical parameters of regression analysis

Source: Authors’ calculation

The obtained results show that in predicting employees’ organizational identification the contribution of each observed predictor is statistically significant.

The first hypothesis was confirmed: There is a significant positive relationship between green internal communication and employees’ organizational identification. This relationship is strong. This means that an improvement in internal green communication that promotes environmental awareness in the organization, and spreads green values and green culture would correspond to an increase in the level of organizational identification of employees - a sense of their belonging to the organization, a level of positive empathy for the organization as well as pride. When green internal communication is a constant process, which clearly and unambiguously communicates the green vision of the organization, employees easily perceive and understand it correctly. The possibilities for the adoption of the green vision of the organization by the employees are greater as well as the identification of employees with it. Then the employees believe in the green vision of the organization and its green values. This finding partly follows the finding of Milanović and Radosavljević Njegić (2019, p. 227) that internal communication affects „the identification of the employees with goals, mission and vision, and the culture of the organization“. This finding partly follows the finding of Chaudhary (2020) who confirmed that some elements of green internal communication (formal or informal channels of communication to spread green culture in the organization) affect the organizational identification of employees. When employees believe in the green vision of their organization, when they recognize its green values and identify their own culture with the green culture of the organization, they will be more identified with the organization. Then the employees feel respected by the organization, they are becoming aware of the importance of their role in the organization - in achieving its green goals as well as implementing its green strategy. In this process, employees strengthen green organizational identity and finally green organizational identification. The sense of belonging of employees to green organization is growing as well as the employees’ emotional experience of the organization successes and failures. Employees care about the opinion of others about their organization and identify with it as a collective. Hence the improved organizational identification of employees in the context of internal green marketing.

The second and the third hypotheses were confirmed: There is a significant positive relationship between green skill development and employees’ organizational identification, and between green rewards and employees’ organizational identification. These relationships are also strong. These results are consistent with the results of Chaudhary (2020) although, in this paper, green skill development and green rewards were observed as the dimensions of internal green marketing, and in the study conducted by Chaudhary as the dimensions of green human resource management. In the literature, the dimensions of these two concepts overlap. By providing green training and green education to employees, as well as recognizing their green contributions and rewarding them, organizations encourage the development of green skills of employees that enable them to participate in green initiatives of the organization and create green strategies. This makes employees “more psychologically available“, and “their work more meaningful, which in turn will enhance their organizational identification” (Chaudhary, 2020, p. 632). Consequently, the employees that are identified with the organization will be more responsible toward the environment.

The fourth hypothesis was confirmed: There is a significant positive relationship between employees’ satisfaction and organizational identification of employees. This relationship is strong. The finding partly follows the finding of Bailey et al. (2016). If the employees have enough freedom to do what they want in their work, if the employees are satisfied with both the variety of their work activities and the opportunities that their work provides for interaction with others, as well as with their job, then their satisfaction affects their organizational identification. When employees are satisfied with their job and organization as a whole, they are identified with the organization. Then, satisfied employees „work toward the attainment of sustainable goals of the organization...” (Chaudhary, 2020, p. 632).

Conclusion

Given the importance of organizational identification of employees in the organization’s response to changes and environmental challenges, the need to care for employees and the environment, and the lack of the research on the relationship between internal green marketing dimensions, employees’ satisfaction, and organizational identification, this paper conducted research on the relationship between the dimensions of internal green marketing, employees’ satisfaction, and organizational identification of employees on the sample of employees of different organizations in the Republic of Serbia (service sector).

The results of this research confirmed the hypotheses: there is a significant positive relationship between all dimensions of internal green marketing - green internal communication, green skill development, green rewards, and employees’ organizational identification. Also, there is a significant positive relationship between employees’ satisfaction and employees’ organizational identification. Besides, in predicting employees’ organizational identification the contribution of each observed predictor is statistically significant. The significance of the results in this paper is that in previous studies the relationship between these variables has not been examined.

In order for employees to be identified with organization, it is necessary to intensify efforts in all dimensions of internal green marketing and employees’ satisfaction. Spreading the green values and green culture of the organization among employees, as well as the promotion of environmental awareness, are positively and significantly related to the organizational identification of employees. At the same time, rising environmental awareness for all employees and green training to develop skills and abilities to implement green (environmental) strategies contribute to the identification of employees with the organization. Awards for employees (which contribute to the improvement of the environment and the green organization) can lead to improved identification of employees with the organization. Besides, employees’ satisfaction in the context of internal green marketing can lead to improved identification of employees with their organization.

Theoretical and managerial implications

The findings of this research can contribute to a better understanding of the importance of internal green marketing for employees and organizations. Also, the results can be useful to researchers in the field of internal green marketing and green human resource management. Since there is a lack of empirical research in this field, the findings can encourage management of the organizations to apply internal green marketing and use its potential in terms of designing programs to improve employees’ organizational identification through internal green communication, green skill development, green rewards, as well as through employees’ satisfaction.

Management of the organizations operating in the service sector in the contexts similar to the Republic Serbia context should be aware that individual perceptions of employees on internal green marketing dimensions are positively and significantly related to the level of employees’ organizational identification. Also, the individual perception of job satisfaction and the organization as a whole is positively and significantly related to the level of his/her identification with organization.

The indicators of the dimensions of internal green marketing in this paper reflect the perceptions of green internal communication based on the green vision that employees believe in, the level of the promotion of environmental awareness and values in the organization, and the level of the green culture in the organization. In addition, these indicators reflect green rewards based on motivation to eco- friendly behavior of employees, green skill development through green training related to the raising of environmental awareness for all employees, improvement of their skills, as well as know-how about environmental (green) management. Management should be to foster an environment of internal green marketing where employees have a high level of environmental awareness and a high level of identification with the organization. In addition, employees are more satisfied in this environment.

Management should create effective programs of internal green marketing because these programs lead to greater employees’ satisfaction similar to internal marketing programs. At the same time, these programs can be expected to contribute to employees’ organizational identification. Finally, organizational identification of employees can accelerate the implementation of environmental strategies or internal green marketing strategies in the organization.

Limitations and future research directions

The results of the research in this paper refer to a modest sample of organizations operating in the Republic of Serbia in the service sector, so that, although this research provides significant insight into the relationship between internal green marketing dimensions, employees’ satisfaction, and organizational identification of employees, interpretation of results should be approached with reservations.

For future research, it is recommended to test the relationship between these variables as well as the impact of internal green marketing dimensions on employees’ organizational identification taking into account the limitations of the sample. In addition, it is recommended to include in the research the attitudes of managers, especially about the dimensions of internal green marketing as well as their assessment of the level of implementation of internal green marketing in the organization and its effects on employees and the organization. Finally, the main direction of future research is to conduct a longitudinal study in order to assess the effects of application of internal marketing programs on organizational identification of employees and other outcomes at the level of both employees and organization.