Abstract

The study examined the role of green human resource management (HRM) practices on environmental sustainability (ES) among workers in Ghana. An explanatory research design was adopted for the study. Using a structured questionnaire, data was drawn from 221 workers from various sectors. Data gathered was analysed with Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling. The study found that there is a direct link between green HRM and ES behaviour among workers in Ghana. The novelty of the findings of this study relates to workers’ perspectives across multiple sectors in Ghana and is the first study to have applied value alignment theory to argue for green HRM and ES from the Global South. The study offers insights into how organisations in Ghana can integrate sustainable practices into human resource management strategies, fostering a more environmentally conscious workforce and contributing to national, regional and international sustainable development goals.

Introduction

Environmental sustainability remains a major global developmental agenda captured under the sustainable development goals (SDGs) guiding the world until 2030 [1]. Six out of the seventeen SDGs are directly crafted to achieve environmental sustainability. These six SDGs (SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 14) focused on clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, and finally, life below water. The operations of organisations apart from individual activities are critical in achieving these goals. Businesses in a wide range of industries have realised how important it is to implement eco-friendly practices [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Human resource management is one area in organisations where this shift toward sustainability is picking up [2,3].

In an effort to build a sustainable workplace and encourage employees to internalise environmental sustainability, green human resource management (green HRM) practices have evolved as a strategic approach to integrating environmental sustainability into the fundamental HRM functions [1,7,8] of organisations. Green HRM encompasses how employers enable environmentally sustainable behaviour of employees at the workplace through various practices to achieve environmental sustainability [8, 9, 10, 11, 12] Green HRM relates to the integration of ecological consciousness into organisational human resource management functions or practices such as job analysis, recruitment and selection, orientation and training, performance appraisal, rewards and compensations, and health and safety at work [12,13].

Results and findings

In this part, the results are presented in two ways. The study’s primary hypotheses and the respondents’ demographic features.

۴٫۱ Demographic characteristics of respondents
Two sets of results are provided: the primary findings for the research hypotheses and demographic information about the participants. Table 2 displays the results for the respondents’ demographic attributes. The findings showed that the majority of respondents were male (57.0 %), were between the ages of 31 and 40 (56.6 %), worked in the education sector (23.1 %), had one to five years of experience in their respective fields (50.2 %), and held non-managerial positions (62.4 %).