Green Human Resource Management and Employees’ Eco-Friendly Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction in the Hotel Industry of Bradford, United Kingdom

Abstract

Environmental sustainability has become a strategic priority for the hospitality industry because hotels consume substantial amounts of energy, water, food, and other natural resources while simultaneously generating considerable waste through their routine operations. Although technological interventions are important for improving environmental performance, the successful implementation of sustainability strategies also depends on employees and the human resource management systems that shape their knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behaviour. This study examines the effects of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) practices on employees' eco-friendly behaviour and investigates the mediating role of job satisfaction among employees working in four-star hotels in Bradford, United Kingdom. Four dimensions of GHRM are considered: green recruitment and selection, green training and development, green performance appraisal, and green rewards. Drawing principally on Social Exchange Theory, complemented by Social Identity Theory, the study proposes that environmentally oriented HR practices can promote favourable employee attitudes and environmentally responsible workplace behaviour. A quantitative, positivist, deductive, cross-sectional research design was employed. Data were collected through an online structured questionnaire using measurement items adapted from established literature. Following data screening, 344 valid responses from employees of four-star hotels were retained for analysis. SPSS was used to conduct reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, simple regression, and hierarchical regression analysis. All measurement scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from .732 to .869. The findings indicate that green recruitment and selection (r = .749), green training and development (r = .555), green performance appraisal (r = .372), and green rewards (r = .348) are positively and significantly associated with employees' eco-friendly behaviour. Green recruitment and selection emerged as the strongest individual predictor. Job satisfaction was also positively associated with eco-friendly behaviour (r = .318, p < .001). The combined GHRM model explained 59.6% of the variance in eco-friendly behaviour, while the inclusion of job satisfaction increased the explained variance to 60.7%. Job satisfaction remained a significant predictor (β = .137, p = .002), providing evidence consistent with an intervening role of employee satisfaction. The study contributes to the GHRM and sustainable hospitality literature by providing evidence from a relatively under-researched UK regional hotel context and by demonstrating that environmental sustainability should be embedded throughout recruitment, employee development, performance management, and reward systems.

References

Abdou, A. H., Hassan, T. H., & Dief, M. M. E. (2020). A description of green hotel practices and their role in achieving sustainable development. Sustainability, 12(22), 9624. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229624

Ajadi, T. H., Adewumi, S. A., & Ntshangase, B. A. (2022). Green recruitment practices and employees’ green behaviour in the eThekwini Municipality of South Africa. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review, 5(6), 290–304. https://doi.org/10.47814/ijssrr.v5i6.322

Alnawaiseh, M. B., & Almasarweh, M. S. (2020). The relationship between GHR recruitment and employee engagement in Jordanian public universities. International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 9(1), 590–595.

Amrutha, V. N., & Geetha, S. N. (2021). Linking organizational green training and voluntary workplace green behavior: Mediating role of green supporting climate and employees’ green satisfaction. Journal of Cleaner Production, 290, 125876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.125876

Ardiza, F., & Nawangsari, L. C. (2019). Effect of green performance appraisal and green compensation and rewards mediated by OCBE to the performance of employees PT Telecommunications Indonesia International (Telin). International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology, 4(12), 702–709.

Ardiza, F., Nawangsari, L. C., & Sutawidjaya, A. H. (2021). The influence of green performance appraisal and green compensation to improve employee performance through OCBE. International Review of Management and Marketing, 11(4), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.11632

Arqawi, S., Zaid, A. A., Jaaron, A. A. M., Al Hila, A. A., Al Shobaki, M. J., & Abu-Naser, S. S. (2019). Green human resource management practices among Palestinian manufacturing firms: An exploratory study. Journal of Resources Development and Management, 59, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.7176/JRDM/59-01

Arulrajah, A. A., Opatha, H. H. D. N. P., & Nawaratne, N. N. J. (2015). Green human resource management practices: A review. Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.4038/sljhrm.v5i1.5624

Babcock-Roberson, M. E., & Strickland, O. J. (2010). The relationship between charismatic leadership, work engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviors. The Journal of Psychology, 144(3), 313–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223981003648336

Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173

Davidescu, A. A., Apostu, S.-A., Paul, A., & Casuneanu, I. (2020). Work flexibility, job satisfaction, and job performance among Romanian employees—Implications for sustainable human resource management. Sustainability, 12(15), 6086. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156086

Dumont, J., Shen, J., & Deng, X. (2017). Effects of green HRM practices on employee workplace green behavior: The role of psychological green climate and employee green values. Human Resource Management, 56(4), 613–627. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21792

Franzese, M., & Iuliano, A. (2019). Correlation analysis. In S. Ranganathan, M. Gribskov, K. Nakai, & C. Schönbach (Eds.), Encyclopedia of bioinformatics and computational biology (pp. 706–721). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.20358-0

Freire, C., & Pieta, P. (2022). The impact of green human resource management on organizational citizenship behaviors: The mediating role of organizational identification and job satisfaction. Sustainability, 14(13), 7557. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137557

Griffin, M. M., & Steinbrecher, T. D. (2013). Large-scale datasets in special education research. In International review of research in developmental disabilities (Vol. 45, pp. 155–183). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407760-7.00004-9

Halawi, A. H., & Zaraket, W. S. (2018). Impact of green human resource management on employee behaviour. Journal of Applied Business Research, 34(5), 927–938.

Ivancevich, J. M. (1995). Human resource management (6th ed.). Richard D. Irwin.

Jiao, C., Richards, D. A., & Zhang, K. (2011). Leadership and organizational citizenship behavior: OCB-specific meanings as mediators. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(1), 11–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9168-3

Judge, T. A., Zhang, S., & Glerum, D. R. (2020). Job satisfaction. In V. I. Sessa & N. A. Bowling (Eds.), Essentials of job attitudes and other workplace psychological constructs (1st ed., pp. 207–241). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429325755-11

Joshi, G., & Dhar, R. L. (2020). Green training in enhancing green creativity via green dynamic capabilities in the Indian handicraft sector: The moderating effect of resource commitment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 267, 121948. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121948

Kaushik, M., & Mathur, B. (2014). Data analysis of students marks with descriptive statistics. International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication, 2(5), 1188–1190. https://doi.org/10.17762/ijritcc.v2i5.3136

Khan, M. H., Muktar, S. N., & Wright, L. T. (2020). Mediating role of organizational attractiveness on the relationship between green recruitment and job pursuit intention among students of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Cogent Business & Management, 7(1), Article 1832442. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1832442

Kianto, A., Vanhala, M., & Heilmann, P. (2016). The impact of knowledge management on job satisfaction. Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(4), 621–636. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-10-2015-0398

Kim, Y. J., Kim, W. G., Choi, H. M., & Phetvaroon, K. (2019). The effect of green human resource management on hotel employees’ eco-friendly behavior and environmental performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76, 83–93.

Kota, M., Kudo, H., & Okita, K. (2018). Factors affecting physical therapists’ job satisfaction: Questionnaire survey targeting first-year physical therapists. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 30(4), 563–566. https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.30.563

Labella-Fernández, A., & Martínez-del-Río, J. (2019). Responsible consumption and production. In Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer.

Levin, R. P. (1988). The management of esthetic dentistry. Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry, 1, 53–55.

Liu, J., Liu, Y., & Yang, L. (2020). Uncovering the influence mechanism between top management support and green procurement: The effect of green training. Journal of Cleaner Production, 251, 119674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119674

Luu, T. T. (2019). Green human resource practices and organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: The roles of collective green crafting and environmentally specific servant leadership. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(8), 1167–1196. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1601731

Ly, B. (2023). Green HRM and eco-friendly behavior in Cambodian public organizations: The mediation of organizational commitment. Environmental Challenges, 10, 100674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2022.100674

Mónus, F. (2021). Environmental perceptions and pro-environmental behavior—Comparing different measuring approaches. Environmental Education Research, 27(1), 132–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1842332

Moslehpour, M., Chang, M.-L., Pham, V. K., & Dadvari, A. (2022). Adopting the configurational approach to the analysis of job satisfaction in Mongolia. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 28(1), 100179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2021.100179

Nemteanu, M.-S., Dinu, V., & Dabija, D.-C. (2021). Job insecurity, job instability, and job satisfaction in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Competitiveness, 13(2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.02.04

Odeyale, S. O., & Olasunkanmi, O. (2014). Performance appraisal for green/environmental friendliness of a supply chain department. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 7(5), 1316–1333. https://doi.org/10.3926/jiem.1057

Opatha, H. H. D. N. P., & Arulrajah, A. A. (2014). Green human resource management: Simplified general reflections. International Business Research, 7(8), 101–111. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v7n8p101

Paillé, P., Valéau, P., & Carballo-Penela, A. (2023). Green rewards for optimizing employee environmental performance: Examining the role of perceived organizational support for the environment and internal environmental orientation. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 66(14), 2810–2831. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2022.2092723

Parvin, M. M., & Kabir, M. M. N. (2011). Factors affecting employee job satisfaction of pharmaceutical sector. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 1(9), 113–123. https://doi.org/10.52283/NSWRCA.AJBMR.20110109A13

Pinzone, M., Guerci, M., Lettieri, E., & Huisingh, D. (2019). Effects of ‘green’ training on pro-environmental behaviors and job satisfaction: Evidence from the Italian healthcare sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 226, 221–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.048

Pratama, E. N., Suwarni, E., & Handayani, M. A. (2022). The effect of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on turnover intention with person-organization fit as moderator variable. APTISI Transactions on Management, 6(1), 74–81. https://doi.org/10.33050/atm.v6i1.1722

Ribeiro, N., Gomes, D. R., Ortega, E., Gomes, G. P., & Semedo, A. S. (2022). The impact of green HRM on employees’ eco-friendly behavior: The mediator role of organizational identification. Sustainability, 14(5), 2897. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052897

Saeed, B. B., Afsar, B., Hafeez, S., Khan, I., Tahir, M., & Afridi, M. A. (2019). Promoting employee’s proenvironmental behavior through green human resource management practices. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(2), 424–438. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1694

Singal, M., & Rhou, Y. (2017). Corporate social responsibility in the hospitality sector. Boston Hospitality Review, 5(1).

Sugiarto, A., Lee, C.-W., & Huruta, A. D. (2022). Promoting eco-friendly behavior on government and private offices in Indonesia: The mediating role of eco-friendly commitment. Quality—Access to Success, 23(190), 278–291. https://doi.org/10.47750/QAS/23.190.30

Tang, G., Chen, Y., Jiang, Y., Paillé, P., & Jia, J. (2018). Green human resource management practices: Scale development and validity. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 56(1), 31–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7941.12147

Tanova, C., & Bayighomog, S. W. (2022). Green human resource management in service industries: The construct, antecedents, consequences, and outlook. The Service Industries Journal, 42(5–6), 412–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2022.2045279

Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach’s alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2, 53–55. https://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd

Usman, M., Rofcanin, Y., Ali, M., Ogbonnaya, C., & Babalola, M. T. (2023). Toward a more sustainable environment: Understanding why and when green training promotes employees’ eco-friendly behaviors outside of work. Human Resource Management, 62(3), 355–371. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22148

Xie, X., Zhu, Q., & Qi, G. (2020). How can green training promote employee career growth? Journal of Cleaner Production, 259, 120818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120818

Yafi, E., Tehseen, S., & Haider, S. A. (2021). Impact of green training on environmental performance through mediating role of competencies and motivation. Sustainability, 13(10), 5624. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105624

Yi, J., Yusliza, M.-Y., & Yusoff, M. (2016). Studying the influence of strategic human resource competencies on the adoption of green human resource management practices. Industrial and Commercial Training, 48(7), 376–384.

Yong, J. Y., Yusliza, M.-Y., & Fawehinmi, O. O. (2019). Green human resource management: A systematic literature review from 2007 to 2019. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(7), 2005–2027. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-12-2018-0438

Yusliza, M.-Y., Norazmi, N. A., Jabbour, C. J. C., Fernando, Y., Fawehinmi, O. O., & Seles, B. M. R. P. (2019). Top management commitment, corporate social responsibility and green human resource management: A Malaysian study. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 26(6), 2051–2078. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-09-2018-0283

Zehir, C., Müceldili, B., Altındağ, E., Şehitoğlu, Y., & Zehir, S. (2014). Charismatic leadership and organizational citizenship behavior: The mediating role of ethical climate. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 42(8), 1365–1376. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2014.42.8.1365