Green HRM initiatives and organizational environmental performance: senior management mediation

¶ … Green Initiatives of Human Resource Management and the Performance on Environmental Issues: Intervening Effects of the Senior Management

The concept of an environmental management is hinged on the need to preserve the environment and natural resources by directing human activities in such a way that they do not negatively affect the ecosystems. Improving human welfare for both current and future generations is the running theme in Environmental Management (Wagner, 2013). Environmental management in Human Resource Management entails administrative roles of crafting policies, implementing and monitoring an organization\'s environmental policy. Therefore, sustainable management means being able to deliver impressive performance on the financial front as well as ensuring that the environment is preserved for the current and future generations. It entails a responsibility to avoid any activities that degrade the environment and jeopardize a healthy and interactive coexistence of humans and other life forms. This is what Environmental Management Systems is all about. If an organization is to achieve corporate sustainability along these lines, then the environmental policies designed for sustainability must be implemented. According to Wagner (2013), EMS is a set of green practices focused on the improvement of Environmental performance. Environmental performance can be measured by using several indicators including low releases, minimization of waste, reduction of pollution and recycling efforts (Paille, Chen, Boiral & Jin, 2014). Such performance can greatly be bolstered by implementing EMS policies like the ISO 14001 certificate requirements. The latter tool is a driver for the interaction between Environmental Management and Human Resource Management. The ISO guideline mentioned above provides a basis for considering numerous aspects of managing businesses with an aim to reduce human impact on the environment. Evaluating emergence response, how the organization relates to the surrounding community and other stakeholders is part of the process. The concept of Green HRM is primarily focused on making all employees \"green\" in order to make it easy for an organization to meet its environmental obligations. It is hoped that once such obligations are met, it is easy for all members to facilitate the attainment of a sustainable environment. Green HRM is concerned with systems, practices and policies that make an organization\'s employees sensitive to environmental concerns in order to benefit the society, the individual and achieve a balanced natural environment amidst success in business. The focus and aim of HRM is to make every employee sensitive to environmental issues so that each of them can contribute towards non-polluter, preservationist, maker and conservationist roles (Opatha & Arulrajah, 2014).

It is important to consider several internal resources including human resource issues related to employees and their role in creating sustainable environmental policies (Guerci, Longoni & Luzzini, 2016). HRM has been at the forefront since the 90s in championing for environmental preservation. The available literature suggests that there is a significant relationship between the HRM efforts over the years and the environmental performance of organizations. For instance, when an organization hires employees who are sensitive to environmental issues, have skills for conservation of the same, compensates staffs for green performance, or even trains such employees on environmental concerns, there is a good chance that the performance will be significantly high. It is clear that senior management plays a central role in the preservation, conservation and maintenance of a green environment by taking green employee initiatives through hiring, training and enforcing green policies (Yang Spencer, Adams & Yapa, 2013; Kim, Park & Wen, 2015). When the HR processes of an organization are environment-friendly, there is higher efficiency and lower costs. Ultimately, the peak of efficiency of an organization on environmental performance is not hinged on the financial might of the organization or even utilization of modern technologies. Rather, it is largely determined by the extent of employee commitment to meeting specified environmental goals (Linder, Bjorkdahl & Ljungberg, 2014). How such employees respond to pleas by the top management to support environment friendly initiatives is a critical aspect of environmental performance. The senior management must, therefore motivate staffs and establish the desired corporate surrounding if high environmental performance is to be attained.

This paper has two central concerns it seeks to address. Firstly, there is the relationship between Green-based HRM practices and Environmental performance. There is little research that explores the extent to which human resource that\'s environmentally oriented helps organizations to perform better on environmental matters. This study makes use of the AMO design (Obeidat, Mitchell & Bray, 2016). Further, this paper seeks to show the role of senior management in improving environmental performance in organizations. It has also been observed that there is no empirically verifiable work to show the validity of TMS as a likely variable for contingency to enhance green-based HR practices on environmental-based performance.

How Green HRM Relates to Environmental Performance

There are a number of observations that highlight the role of HR in enhancing green performance. It is stated that when employees of an organization possess high skills in matters of environmental preservation, the performance of the organization along environmental issues is likely to be high. Individual behavior performance is largely influenced by training procedures based on selected environmental concerns. Employers have a chance to: i. implement branding as a strategy to attract staffs that desire high performance-based work environment; ii. Recruit people with common ethical considerations for their employer; and, iii. Sufficient training to prepare staffs to align to organizational goals (Guerci, Radaelli, Siletti, Cirella & Shani, 2015; Liu & Xie, 2013). The interventions are programs focused on environmental performance. They are meant to identify and nurture environmental sensitivity among employees. It also seeks to empower them to make environment savvy decisions in ambiguous circumstances. Practices that are based on ability are also linked to compliance programs. There are two reasons that can be advanced to explain such a scenario. If employees are equipped with values that will help them align to the organization\'s environmental performance, they are also encouraged to follow the rules laid out by the organization. Secondly, interventions that bolster ability help to improve the competencies of the employees so that they can follow and understand the rules and the standards of the organization. Owing to the fact that these interventions carry both value and compliance programs, HR practices that are based on ability are more likely to work. These: i. enhances the benevolent performance surroundings for the environment in an organization; And ii. Decrease organizational performance that is driven by ego (Guerci et al., 2015). Thus, we feel that the hypothesis below should drive our research.

Theoretical Background and Hypotheses Development

HRM practices that are focused on motivation are important factors in enhancing employee sensitivity to environmentally sensitive behavior and the overall environmental performance of an organization. Organizations can introduce a range of practices to encourage employees to pursue environmentally savvy courses of action, take responsibility for outcomes emanating from such decisions and prioritizing environment related factors over others (Graham, Graham, Mcadam & Mcadam, 2016). One of the reasons why employees engage in unsafe behavior with regard to environmental conservation is that they think the gains outweigh other considerations. This is especially true in cases where it is the organization that bears the brunt for such choices. HRM practices based on motivation are intended to intervene and deal with environmental performance in organizational set up. They help to increase the perceived and costs of environmentally insensitive behavior by employees. They impose sanctions and punish such behavior. On the positive side, they seek to reward environmentally sensitive behavior that such employees pursue (Guerci et al., 2015). Application of reward and punishment represents an example of compliance-based programs because organizations provide specific sets of rules and guidelines that require all employees to follow. The outcome of these programs are that employees will not only desist from engaging in unsafe environmentally insensitive behavior but also see that the costs of such behavior far outweigh the benefits at both individual and organizational levels. On the other hand, rewarding programs are typically value-oriented. Rewards encourage staffs to pursue environmentally safe options because everyone will desire rewards. The recognition that goes with it is also encouraging. It encourages workers to pursue safe options. Owing to the fact that these programs function as both value and compliance oriented initiatives, it is expected that HR based on ability enhancement will: i. boost principled and benevolent performance practices aimed at conserving the environment; and, ii. Decrease environmental performance that tends to be egoistic in organizations (Guerci et al., 2015; Daily, Bishop & Steiner, 2011). The above arguments and facts lead us to the following hypothesis:

H1: HR practice based on enhancing ability relates positively to environmental performance.

Practices that enhance opportunity are essential elements in advancing environmental performance of organizations. They provide workers with a firm technical possibility to pursue environmentally safe behavior (Guerci et al., 2015). Negative organizational or social context is also a hindrance to employees who wish to pursue environmentally safe behavior. If colleagues show opportunistic tendencies, employees keen on pursuing environmentally safe options may be slowed down or even discouraged. There should be effort by organizations to improve organizational and social context in which the motivation HRM initiatives are instituted. If that is done, workers will be allowed to operate in an environment that is free from fear of the possible negative implications from their allegiance to safe environmental options. Initiatives that are driven by opportunity come in three dimensions, i.e. designing open strategies to pick out safe environmentally sensitive behavior such as blowing the whistle on infringements and violations of the laid-out standards or rules, or even conducting surveys, creating mechanisms for passing organizational intention to pursue green initiatives and creating structures for environmental performance by individuals within an organization (Klassen, 2001; Guerci et al., 2015).

H2: Organizational performance practice based on motivation is positively linked to environmental performance.

If organizations base their focus on outcomes, there is really little difference between opportunity-based practice and those anchored on motivation. The use of punishments sanctions just like in whistle-blowing approaches encourages workers to respect the laid out organizational rules and observe standards. The reward system is noted to send a message to the responsible person directly with regard to positive behavior. Compliance measures facilitate the requisite climate and infrastructure for responsible safe environment behavior. Thus, since they inherently carry both compliance and value oriented characteristics, one can expect: i. HR that is anchored on opportunity to enhance principled climates for the environment and the benevolent considerations; and, ii. Decrease organizational environmental practices that are only meant to pamper their ego.