Green Human Resource Management for Organizational Sustainability: A Need of the Hour for Modern Workplace

Abstract

The present study intends to identify the importance of green human resource management practices in public sector organizations; employee awareness about green human resource management practices; employees’ readiness to implement these practices; and government vision and policies towards green human resource management leading towards organizational sustainability in public sector organizations of the United Arab Emirates. This cross-sectional study shall empirically test the hypothesis based on research questions about primary data, collected from employees of public sector organizations. Based on positive epistemology in this deductive research, a hypothesis is designed, and data collected, through closed-ended survey questions using a convenience sampling technique. The present research finds that the government vision and policies about green human resource management practices were not fully explained to employees working in the public sector, hindering the attainment of organizational environmental goals, and hence national sustainability efforts. Green human resource management practices significantly contribute to organizational sustainability. To maintain sustainable growth and performance, organizations shall implement green concepts across organizations, including Human Resource Management departments. Organizations need to develop green objectives on an annual basis, aligned with government vision and policies in this regard. All stakeholders, including academic experts and business leaders, need to be oriented about green concepts in order to better collaborate, and employees need to be comprehensively trained to understand and implement these concepts in order to attain organizational sustainability in all aspects. Research outcomes of this study cannot be generalized with as much confidence in private sector work settings, since the study is designed and conducted on public sector organizations of the United Arab Emirates.