Literature Review

LITERATURE REVIEW
The extant literature in the HR field on the topic of sustainability suggests that
more and more HR executives are keen to modulate their corporation as such
to become exclusive environmental champions.
A great extent of empirical research highlights the impact of environment
management practices on performance of the organization using different
parameters (Iraldo, Testa, & Frey, 2009; Yang, Lin, Chan, & Sheu, 2010).
Literature has given importance to adoption of environmental practices as a
key objective of organizational functioning making it important to identify with
the support of human resource management practices. (Cherian &
Jacob, 2012, p. 25).
Haden, Oyler, and Humphrey (2009) comprehend that the integration of
environmental objectives and strategies along with the strategic development
goals of a company results in an effective environment management system.
Daily and Huang (2001) proposed that organizations essentially need to
balance the industrial growth as well as preservation of the environment
because it has been confirmed that by endorsing green practices, the
companies may profit more than before (Murari & Bhandari, 2011).
The Human Resource Department of an organization plays a significant role in
the creation of their company’s sustainability culture (Harmon, Fairfield, &
Wirtenberg, 2010).
It is identified that the greater the strength of green human resource policies,
the greater is the intensity of adoption of environment management systems
(EMS) and policies by the different companies (Bohdanowicz, Zientara, &
Novotna, 2011).
Various contemporary scholars have augmented the understanding and
studies on Green HRM in recent years (Berrone & Gomez-Mejia, 2009;
Jabbour, Santos, & Nagano, 2010; Massoud, Daily, & Bishop, 2008;
Renwick, 2008; Stringer, 2009).
Green HRM depends on the unique and identifiable patterns of green decisions
and behaviours of HR managers (green signatures; Jackson, Renwick, Jabbour,
& Muller-Camen, 2011).
The incorporation of environmental objectives and strategies into the overall
strategic development goals of a company helps in arriving at an effective EMS
(Haden et al., 2009).
There are various researchers who support the HRM practices to be effective
for promotion of human capital and results in providing to contributors of
organizational performance and competitive advantage (Boselie, Paauwe, &
Jansen, 2001).
Distinguished policies in the field of recruitment, performance and appraisal
management, training and personnel development, employee relations, and
reward systems are considered powerful tools for aligning employees with a
company’s environmental strategy(Renwick, 2008).
Several workers argue that in order to implement an effective corporate green
management system, it is important to promote a great deal of technical and
management skills among all employees of the organization (Daily et al., 2007;
Unnikrishnan & Hegde, 2007), whereas, others propose that organizations
look at development of innovative tools and initiatives of environment
management (EM) which will significantly impact sustainability of the firm and
promote a competitive advantage (Hart, 1997; Lin, Jones, & Hsieh, 2001).
Therefore, to expand such a framework, it becomes definitive to have effective
human resource management practices including presentation of strict
recruitment strategies (Grolleau, Mzoughi, & Pekovic, 2012), appraisal, and
reward systems which include environmental awareness and implementation
in their evaluation process (Jabbour, Jabbour, Govindan, Teixeira, &
Freitas, 2013) and training and empowerment programs (Unnikrishnan &
Hegde, 2007) which will facilitate the evolution of new set of skills and
competencies among the employees of “pro green” organizations. It is evident
from the mentioned statements that whatever the method of research they
apply, all of these researchers promote the ideology that is important for
proper alignment of human resource management principles with objectives of
green management in an organization.
Primarily this study concentrates on GHRM, which according to Dutta (2012)
includes two major elements namely, environmental-friendly HR practices and
the preservation of the knowledge capital. Green human resources refer to
using every employee touch point/interface to promote sustainable practices
and increase employee awareness and commitments on the issues of
sustainability (Mandip, 2012).
HR department of an organization plays a major role in making environmental
responsibility a part of the corporate mission statement. Green HRM focuses
on employee’s environmental behaviour in the company, which in turn,
employees can carry on such pattern of consumption in their private life
(Muster & Schrader, 2011).
The main objective of green HRM is to make the employees aware of the
intricacies of environment management i.e. what action is needed, how it
functions, and how does it help the environment. The exercise really motivates
the employees and develops a sense of pride in them for being a part of the
going green program.
Green Human resource management (HRM) is an important topic for research
and some basic theoretical issues have been well accepted. It has contributed
to our understanding of the relationship among strategy, human capital, HRM
and organizational performance (Paawe and Boselie, 2005).
Emergence of Green HRM is influenced by the global competition, and the
corresponding search for sources of sustainable competitive advantage (Dyer
& Reeves,1995).
It has achieved its prominence because it provides a means by which business
firms can enhance the competitiveness and promote managerial efficiency
(Paawe and Boselie, 2005).
It facilitates the development of a human capital that meets the requirements
of business competitive strategy, so that organizational goals and mission will
be achieved (Guest, 1987).
GHRM functions future direction
GHRM is a manifesto which helps to create green workforce that can

understand and appreciate green culture in an organization. Such green
initiative can maintain its green objectives all throughout the HRM process of
recruiting, hiring and training, compensating, developing, and advancing the
firm’s human capital (Dutta, 2012).
The Human Resource Department of a company is capable of playing a
significant role in the creation of sustainability culture within the company
(Harmon et al., 2010).
HR processes play an important role in translating Green HR policy into

practice (Renwick, 2008); therefore, human capital and its management are
instrumental to the fulfilment of EM objectives (Hersey, 1998).
Huslid (1995) mentions the selection processes, incentive compensation,

performance management systems, the employee involvement, and training
to be central for the company’s success. Consequently, the argument is
advanced that the HR function is instrumental in realizing organizational
change aimed at acclimatizing to the new-found requirements for corporations
and therefore also a potentially important contributor to such a strategic issue.
It needs to be acknowledged that the intersection of sustainability, the natural

environment, and HR management are new areas in fast development and
therefore, not characterized by a fully developed body of writings (Jackson et
al., 2011).
Ulrich, Brockbank, and Johnson (2009) point out that many HR systems need
to be aligned with each other in order to increase the likelihood that the
organization will achieve its strategy.
Cherian and Jacob (2012) in their study identified that recruitment, training,
employee motivation, and rewards are important human dimensions which
contribute to the improvement in employee implementation of green
management principles.
In order to make sure that the organization gets right employee green inputs
and right employee green performance of job, it is indispensable that HRM
functions are adapted or modified to be green (Opatha & Arulrajah, 2014, p.
107).
In this part of the paper, we briefly describe a few specific functional HRM
activities which identify with the sustainability and the natural environment at
the workplace and also provide opportunities for research in future.
Sound economic performance of the firm was expected to guarantee

corporate success by companies and its shareholders, but now it is no longer
valid; economic and financial outcomes need to be accompanied by
minimization of ecological footprints and increased attention to social and
environmental aspects. Therefore, the new strategic issue, corporate
environmentalism or green management emerged in 1990s and became a
popular slogan internationally in 2000s (Lee, 2009).
Green management is defined as the process whereby companies manage the
environment by developing environmental management strategies (Lee, 2009)
in which companies need to balance between industrial growth and
safeguarding the natural environment so that future generation may thrive
(Daily and Huang, 2001).
This concept becomes a strategic dominant issue for businesses, especially
multinational enterprises operating their business globally (Banerjee, 2001).
Green management refers to the management of corporate interaction with,
and impact upon, the environment (Lee and Ball, 2003), and it has gone
beyond regulatory compliance and needs to include conceptual tools such as
pollution prevention, product stewardship and corporate social responsibility
(Hart, 2005; Pullman et al., 2009; Siegel, 2009).
Business firms play a key role in the issues of environmental management
since they are part of our society and cannot be isolated from the
environment, and in fact, they contribute most of the carbon footprints in the
past (Liu, 2010). Application of innovative technology could alleviate the
environmental deterioration by developing, for example, the biotech products
and by searching for alternative energy to reduce the use of finite natural
resources.
Thus, business should put more effort into the research on innovative
technology to minimize the impacts of environmental destruction by creating
products that are nontoxic and less pollution to environment (Liu, 2010; Ozen
and Kusku, 2008).

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What are some of the roles of HR in promoting sustainability?

What are some HR practices that can help promote sustainability?

LITERATURE REVIEW

GHRM functions future direction

GHRM is a manifesto which helps to create green workforce that can

HR processes play an important role in translating Green HR policy into

Huslid (1995) mentions the selection processes, incentive compensation,

It needs to be acknowledged that the intersection of sustainability, the natural

Sound economic performance of the firm was expected to guarantee

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