You can use profiles to achieve the desired behavior:
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.5</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>log4j</id>
<phase>process-resources</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy-resources</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<outputDirectory>output_directory</outputDirectory>
<resources>
<resource>${log4j.file}</resource>
</resources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
<profiles>
<profile>
<id>dev</id>
<activation>
<activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
</activation>
<properties>
<log4j.file>path_to_file_A</log4j.file>
</properties>
</profile>
<profile>
<id>prod</id>
<properties>
<log4j.file>path_to_file_B</log4j.file>
</properties>
</profile>
</profiles>