This study aims to analyze the state-of-the-art of sustainable human resources management and to identify key elements, trends and research gaps. A systematic literature review was carried out using Scopus database, covering the period from 2001 to 2018, which resulted in a corpus of 115 scientific articles. Data analysis occurred through content analysis tools and statistical processing of the abstracts by the Alceste software, version 2015. The results showed four categories, which comprise 74% of the elementary units of the corpus analyzed. The first comprised studies on sustainable leadership, based on individual and group power and embedded in its principles, processes, practices and organizational values. The second demonstrated the relationship among human resources management, environmental sustainability and organizational performance. The third category considered the tensions and paradoxes between human resources management practices and sustainability: on the one hand, human resources management should focus on cost reduction and corporate profitability (in the short-term); on the other, their actions should provide long-term sustainability of organizational performance. The last category dealt with the link between human resources management and the social dimension of sustainability, especially with regard to organizational social responsibility and the company’s relationship with its stakeholders. In conclusion, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the topic of sustainable human resources management by analyzing the state of the art and future directions of human resources studies.

Introduction

The management process in the business environment has been concentrated for a long time in the achievement of short term financial goals, ignoring broader long-term objectives linked to human issues (Maley, 2014). On the other hand, the popular awareness in relation to the economical environmental and social problems that can emerge from the business scenario contributed more for organizations to show their commitment to sustainability (Ehnert et al., 2016). Moreover, the sustainable development in society is not possible without the sustainability assertion being present in the business world (Schaltegger et al., 2012; Zink, 2014; Wagner, 2015). It is noticed that there is an emerging concern in the academic sector for studies which focus on sustainability and the sustainable development (Linnenluecke and Griffiths, 2010). Although the number of researches has increased in recent years (Roca and Searcy, 2012), there are still divergencies on conceptual terms (Glavič and Lukman, 2007; Presley et al., 2007; Lozano, 2008), once sustainability presents itself as part of various scientific subjects. Furthermore, the term eventually is applied only as a theoretical expression and with political means or as a “fad”, facts that detract from the real meaning of sustainability (Leal Filho, 2000).