Sustainable Human Resource Management for Improved Environmental Performance

Abstract

In this study, we examine the role that different types of human resource management (HRM) practices play on firms’ environmental performance. We develop a model to evaluate the influence of managers’ environmental performance evaluations and two types of internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices (socially responsible employee benefits and corporate volunteering practices) on organizations’ environmental performance. In doing so, we go beyond the green HRM framework, which focuses on practices specifically designed to address environmental concerns, and we start integrating other aspects of the larger sustainable HRM area to improve our understanding of the effect of HRM practices on firms’ environmental outcomes. To accomplish our goal, we analyze a sample of 142 manufacturing companies that have gone through B Lab’s Impact Assessment process, one of the few independent certifications of social and environmental responsibility available to small and medium businesses. The results show that managers’ performance evaluations on environmental goals not only have a direct impact on firms’ environmental performance, but also strengthen the positive effect of environmental management practices on performance. Findings also support the influence of both types of internal CSR practices on environmental performance, which opens the door to explore whether and how different types of internal CSR have an effect on firms’ environmental performance. Our study advances recent work on societal grand challenges in the field of management, pointing to specific people management practices by which businesses can move from being part of the environmental problem to being part of the solution.