The contemporary literature has largely addressed corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the macro or institutional level, whereas its effect at the micro-level is largely ignored. In addition, contemporary researchers have also ignored the importance of employee pro-environmental behavior to reduce the environmental footprint of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). With this background, the present study attempts to decrease the environmental footprint of the SME sector of China by implementing CSR at the micro-level through the involvement of employees because employees spend a significant amount of their time at workplaces, and hence their environment-related behavior may significantly contribute to improve the natural environment. In this regard, here we examined the impact of the micro-foundation of CSR on SMEs' environmental performance with mediating effect of employees' pro-environmental behavior. The data were collected from the different organizations in China. Our sample constitutes a supervisor-subordinate dyad from which we collected 562 filled questionnaires (281 from each). We used the structural equation modeling technique using AMOS software for data analysis, the results show that CSR, directly and indirectly, through employee's pro-environmental behavior affects the environmental performance of SMEs, and employee pro-environmental behavior partially mediates this relationship. The findings of the present study are helpful for policymakers of the SME sector of China to address widespread environmental issues caused by their business operations.
Keywords: China; SME; corporate social responsibility; environmental footprints; environmental performance; pro-environmental behavior.