How Do Green Human Resource Management Practices Encourage Employees to Engage in Green Behavior? Perceptions of University Students as Prospective Employees

Ozlem Ercantan,Serife Eyupoglu

doi:10.3390/su14031718

Abstract

This study measured the perceptions of prospective employees (university students) towards organizations practicing green human resource management and how these perceptions could influence their future green behavior in the workplace. The sample of the study consisted of students from the largest university in North Cyprus and 400 questionnaires were administered with 342 valid responses being returned. The data was tested by confirmatory factor analysis by using analysis of moment structures (AMOS) software version 24.0 and factor, regression, and correlation analyses were conducted. The data analysis revealed that green human resource management had a direct influence on prospective employees’ perceived green task-related and voluntary behaviors and an indirect influence via the mediation of psychological green climate perception. The importance of incorporating sustainable dimensions within HRM departments, as well as the function of GHRM practices in achieving sustainability, was highlighted in this study. This study further contributes to the literature of behavioral HRM and focuses on the green side of HRM to contribute to the environmental management literature as well as providing insight into prospective employees’ (students) perceptions of GHRM practices, which will create an impact on their future green workplace behaviors.

Highlights

Greening companies and maintaining environmental sustainability has become a top priority for decision-makers in the twenty-first century, sparking the quest for novel alternatives to traditional human resource management
New findings from this study show that green human resource management practices (GHRM) practices have a bigger impact on voluntary employee green behavior (EGB) than task-related EGB
The results show that green employee involvement (EI) has a significant role in the voluntary behavior of prospective employees; they perceive themselves as attaching to the organization and identifying with the organizational values [6], and as a result, change their behaviors to adopt the green value of the organization

Summary

Introduction

Greening companies and maintaining environmental sustainability has become a top priority for decision-makers in the twenty-first century, sparking the quest for novel alternatives to traditional human resource management. Employees play a crucial role in business greening by engaging in a variety of environmentally friendly behaviors [1]. Human resource management is undeniably a powerful tool for promoting green and sustainable approaches, when environmental sustainability is the major focus in new green human resource management research [2]. As indicated by the increasing number of important publications devoted to the topic, scholars studying human resource management have paid increased attention to its role in greening firms [3,4,5]. Organizations all across the world are increasingly implementing environmental activities. Recent studies have yielded results that demonstrate the importance of employees’

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