Abstract
The United Nations’ report “Our Common Future” contributed to underline the crucial role of human resource management in strategically greening the organization and, in turn, economics and society at large. This awareness gave birth to green human resource management (GHRM). Despite the high number of papers addressing GHRM, this topic lacks a proper theoretical, methodological, and empirical systematization. A possible step towards a better understanding of GHRM is an evidence-based analysis of its practices’ outcomes. Developing these reflections and considerations, we conducted a systematic literature review on the evidence-based literature about the antecedents and outcomes of GHRM practices, following the PRISMA guidelines. We selected 48 papers. Most selected studies (n = 25) did not tackle single GHRM activities and processes. Studies considering specific GHRM areas tackled some dimensions more frequently (e.g., “training and development”, “performance management and appraisal”), while underrepresenting others (e.g., “Job analysis and description”). At the same time, selected studies focused on GHRM consequences for organizations, showing a high adherence to the ability, motivation, opportunity (AMO) theoretical framework. Suggestions for future research are provided.
Highlights
The issue of sustainability became a mainstream topic soon after the publication of the United Nations’ Brundtland Report in the late 1980s
The latest and most extensive review was carried out by Amrutha and Geetha [21]. They covered a wider range of years, from 1995 to 2019, confirming the lack of studies carried out in undeveloped countries, while finding that the majority of studies were carried out in Europe and Asia. They developed a model aimed at explaining how green human resource management (GHRM) practices have an impact on organizational sustainability through the mediation of employees’ green behaviors at work
Assuming as a starting point the conclusion reached by the previous literature, we developed a review of the empirical, evidence-based literature about the antecedents and outcomes of GHRM practices
Summary
The issue of sustainability became a mainstream topic soon after the publication of the United Nations’ Brundtland Report ( known as Our Common Future) in the late 1980s. Organizational sustainability (otherwise known as corporate sustainability), since this issue has been mostly tackled among for-profit organizations, is a broad concept, addressing ecological concerns, and social responsibility and the integration of economic activities with the concern about both the natural and the social environment [2]. In the last two decades, the mainstream nature of sustainability and environmental awareness pushed both practitioners and academics to address the issue of human resource management as a strategic tool for greening an organization and, in turn, economics and society at large. 56) observed: “if a company is to adopt an environmentally-aware approach to its activities, the employees are the key to its success or failure” This explains the rise of a new concept: the green human resource management (GHRM). Little attention has been devoted to the actual results of the practices and actions used in developing a green organizational approach, through GHRM
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
