Pathways towards sustainability in manufacturing organizations: Empirical evidence on the role of green human resource management

Abstract Green human resource management (HRM) practices can help organizations align their business strategies with the environment. Anchored in the resource‐based view of the firm, this study examines the influence of green HRM practices on sustainability using cross‐sectional data obtained from 112 large manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The results show that green recruitment and green training have positive effects on sustainability. However, green analysis and job description, green selection, green performance assessment, and green reward were not found to have any significant influence on sustainability. The model presented in this paper offers useful insights into the positive role of green HRM in the sustainability of manufacturing firms, and as previous studies exploring the link between green HRM and sustainability using empirical data from Malaysian manufacturing firms are scarce, this research is of significant importance for scholars and practitioners. The scope of this study focuses on emerging economies with a limited number of variables that are contextual and specific to the Malaysian economy. Future research could explore the relationship between green HRM and other variables that may contribute to the present framework in other contexts. Future studies may also consider each dimension of green HRM, or indeed other elements of green HRM, in relation to the different aspects of sustainability.