Green HRM Practices and Organizational Performance-Related Outcomes in Pakistan's Hospitality Sector: The Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support and the Moderating Role of Spiritual Leadership in Employee Retention
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63544/jbii.v5i11.282Keywords:
Green Human Resource Management, Perceived Organizational Support, Spiritual Leadership, Employee Retention, Hospitality, PakistanAbstract
This study examines the relationship between green human resource management (GHRM), perceived organizational support (POS), spiritual leadership (SL) and employee retention in the hospitality and tourism sectors of Pakistan. Employee retention is treated as a workforce-related outcome relating to organizational performance, rather than as a direct measure of organizational performance. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 300 employees in Islamabad and Rawalpindi in 2023, using simple sampling, five-point questionnaires, and SPSS-based descriptive, reliability, correlation, regression, mediation, and moderation analyses. GHRM was positively associated with POS (b = .7567, p < .001) and employee retention (b = .4421, p < .001), while POS was positively associated with retention (b = .5139, p < .001). Spiritual leadership was neither a significant direct predictor of retention (b = −.0045, p = .8396) nor a significant POS × SL interaction (b = −.0394, p = .2218). The positive indirect effect is consistent with partial mediation by POS. These findings identify organizational support as a potential explanatory mechanism linking environmentally centred HR practices to employee retention, with appropriate limitations on leadership and general organizational performance claims.
References
Ababneh, O. M. A. (2021). How do green HRM practices affect employees’ green behaviors? The role of employee engagement and personality attributes. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 64(7), 1204–1226. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2020.1814708
Ahmad, S. (2015). Green human resource management: Policies and practices. Cogent Business & Management, 2(1), Article 1030817. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2015.1030817
Amrutha, V. N., & Geetha, S. N. (2020). A systematic review on green human resource management: Implications for social sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 247, Article 119131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119131
Arasanmi, C. N., & Krishna, A. (2019). Employer branding: Perceived organizational support and employee retention—The mediating role of organizational commitment. Industrial and Commercial Training, 51(3), 174–183. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-10-2018-0086
Bangwal, D., Chaudhary, A., Kumar, R., Oberoi, S. S., & Kumar, V. (2025). Green HRM, employee pro-environmental behavior, and environmental commitment. Acta Psychologica, 258, Article 105153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105153
Benevene, P., & Buonomo, I. (2020). Green human resource management: An evidence-based systematic literature review. Sustainability, 12(15), Article 5974. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12155974
Bhatti, S. H., Saleem, F., Murtaza, G., & Haq, T. U. (2022). Exploring the impact of green human resource management on environmental performance: The roles of perceived organizational support and innovative environmental behavior. International Journal of Manpower, 43(3), 742–762. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-05-2020-0215
Darvishmotevali, M., & Altinay, L. (2022). Green HRM, environmental awareness and green behaviors: The moderating role of servant leadership. Tourism Management, 88, Article 104401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104401
Dwesini, N. F. (2019). Causes and prevention of high employee turnover within the hospitality industry: A literature review. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 8(3), 1–15.
Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 500–507.
Elias, R., Gabriel, D., & Changalima, I. A. (2025). Green is lovely! The mediating effect of employees’ green behavior on perceived organizational support for the environment and job satisfaction. SAGE Open, 15(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251375260
Freitas, W. R. D. S., Caldeira-Oliveira, J. H., Teixeira, A. A., Stefanelli, N. O., & Teixeira, T. B. (2020). Green human resource management and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from Brazilian firms. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(4), 1551–1569. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-12-2019-0543
Fry, L. W., Latham, J. R., Clinebell, S. K., & Krahnke, K. (2017). Spiritual leadership as a model for performance excellence: A study of Baldrige award recipients. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 14(1), 22–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766086.2016.1202130
Guerra-Lombardi, V., Gutiérrez-Taño, D., Hernández-Martín, R., & Padrón-Fumero, N. (2026). Green human resource management and employee green behaviour in hotels: Mediating roles of job satisfaction and work well-being. Business Strategy and the Environment, 35(4), 4688–4704. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70379
Hawela, M., Bayraktar, O., Karabulut, A. T., Sarı, B., & Alqahtani, M. S. (2025). Advancing sustainability in Turkish hospitality sector: The interplay between green HRM, eco-friendly behaviors, and organizational support. Sustainability, 17(5), Article 1958. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17051958
Islam, M. A., Hack-Polay, D., Haque, A., Rahman, M., & Hossain, M. S. (2022). Moderating role of psychological empowerment on the relationship between green HRM practices and millennial employee retention in the hotel industry of Bangladesh. Business Strategy & Development, 5(1), 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.180
KA, Z., & Aboobaker, N. (2021). Spiritual leadership and intention to stay: Examining the mediating role of employee voice behaviour. Journal of Management Development, 40(5), 352–364. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-05-2019-0182
Karatepe, O. M., Hsieh, H., & Aboramadan, M. (2022). The effects of green human resource management and perceived organizational support for the environment on green and non-green hotel employee outcomes. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 103, Article 103202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103202
Khan, K., Gogia, E. H., Shao, Z., Rehman, M. Z., & Ullah, A. (2025). The impact of green HRM practices on green innovative work behaviour: Empirical evidence from the hospitality sector of China and Pakistan. BMC Psychology, 13, Article 96. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02417-5
Kim, H., & Lee, Y. (2026). Examining the influence of green human resource management on employees’ perceived organizational support for the environment in deluxe hotels. Global Business and Finance Review, 31(3), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.17549/gbfr.2026.31.3.27
Kwon, E., McGinley, S., & Baek, J. (2026). Sustaining retention in the lodging industry: The role of organizational support and self-esteem in a post-crisis landscape. Tourism and Hospitality Management, 32(2), 93–102. https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.32.2.7
Le, P. G. L., & Pham, V. K. (2026). Green human resource management and employee retention: The roles of innovative climate, knowledge sharing, and mindfulness in Vietnamese luxury hotels. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 13, Article 1361. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07712-z
Li, L., Bibi, M., Hussain, Y., & Xiao, D. (2025). Examining sustainable hospitality practices and employee turnover in Pakistan: The interplay of robotics awareness, mutual trust, and technical skills development in the age of artificial intelligence. Journal of Environmental Management, 373, Article 123922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123922
Li, W., Abdalla, A. A., Mohammad, T., Khassawneh, O., & Parveen, M. (2023). Towards examining the link between green HRM practices and employee green in-role behavior: Spiritual leadership as a moderator. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 16, 383–396. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S396114
Likhitkar, P., & Verma, P. (2017). Impact of green HRM practices on organization sustainability and employee retention. International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, 3(5), 152–157.
Maan, A. T., Abid, G., Butt, T. H., Ashfaq, F., & Ahmed, S. (2020). Perceived organizational support and job satisfaction: A moderated mediation model of proactive personality and psychological empowerment. Future Business Journal, 6, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-020-00027-8
Malik, S. Y., Cao, Y., Mughal, Y. H., Kundi, G. M., Mughal, M. H., & Ramayah, T. (2020). Pathways towards sustainability in organizations: Empirical evidence on the role of green human resource management practices and green intellectual capital. Sustainability, 12(8), Article 3228. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083228
Moin, M. F., Omar, M. K., Wei, F., Rasheed, M. I., & Hameed, Z. (2021). Green HRM and psychological safety: How transformational leadership drives follower’s job satisfaction. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(16), 2269–2277. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1829569
Obeng, H. A., Sarwar, A., Arhinful, R., Çora, H., & Olukokun, O. O. (2026). Green human resource management and organizational green performance in Malaysian hotels: The roles of sustainable service innovation and proactive green behavior toward technology use. Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism, 5, Article 1920712. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsut.2026.1920712
Renwick, D. W., Redman, T., & Maguire, S. (2013). Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00328.x
Samul, J. (2019). Spiritual leadership: Meaning in the sustainable workplace. Sustainability, 12(1), Article 267. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010267
Shin, J., & Shin, H. (2026). Spiritual leadership in hotels and service performance under emotional demands: The mediating role of emotion regulation self-efficacy. Behavioral Sciences, 16(6), Article 888. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16060888
Suleman, A.-R., Nejati, M., Shafaei, A., & Redmond, J. (2025). Green human resource management practices in the hospitality and tourism industry: An integrative multilevel systematic review. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 62, 46–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2024.12.009
Úbeda-García, M., Claver-Cortés, E., Marco-Lajara, B., & Zaragoza-Sáez, P. (2021). Corporate social responsibility and firm performance in the hotel industry: The mediating role of green human resource management and environmental outcomes. Journal of Business Research, 123, 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.09.055
Wang, M., Guo, T., Ni, Y., Shang, S., & Tang, Z. (2019). The effect of spiritual leadership on employee effectiveness: An intrinsic motivation perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 2627. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02627
Zhang, Y., & Yang, F. (2021). How and when spiritual leadership enhances employee innovative behavior. Personnel Review, 50(2), 596–609. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-07-2019-0346
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Ehtisham Khan

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.