Catalytic Effect of Green Human Resource Practices on Sustainable Development Goals: Can Individual Values Moderate an Empirical Validation in a Developing Economy?

Abstract

Utilizing the framework of the theory of planned behavior, a new model has been extracted and validated empirically to explore the role of green human resource management (GHRM) practices in the attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) among textile manufacturing firms. Therefore, this research study is the first attempt to empirically investigate the impact of green skills and employee green attitudes that may proffer a better explanation of the nature of the relationship between GHRM and the SDGs, proposing an inclusive re`search model on the effect of GHRM on the SDGs in the hi-tech manufacturing industry. Questionnaires were distributed to 465 textile firms; however, of those returned, only 197 surveys completed in all respects were used for further empirical investigation. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data to assess the validity and reliability of the instrument. The outcomes of the study affirmed the theoretical model according to which GHRM has a positive association with employee green attitudes, employee skills, decent work, and sustainable consumption and production behavior. Employee green attitudes and decent work had a positive effect on sustainable consumption and production behavior. It is also beneficial to identify significant moderators to explain the processes and circumstances through which the attitudes of employees are transformed into the desired behaviors. Therefore, individual green values were taken as moderators in the study to assess how they impacted the relationship between GHRM and employee green attitudes, as well as that between employee green attitudes and sustainable consumption and production behavior. The results also revealed that an employee’s green attitude acted as a partial mediator between GHRM and decent work. Moreover, employee green attitudes and employee skills fully mediated between GHRM and sustainable consumption and production behavior.