Impact of Green Human Resource Management Practices on Sustainability and Green Creativity: A Study of Mediated-Moderated Model

Abstract

Sustainability and green creativity are becoming crucial due to the lack of green human resource management (GHRM) practices that play a pivotal role through intervention of dynamic capabilities, employee engagement, and an environment of innovative climate in the organizations. Earlier studies have not provided enough empirical evidence on employees' green dynamic capabilities and employee engagement, and their relationship has rarely been investigated to improve sustainability and green creativity, while the nature of the association is still largely unknown. Thus, this study aims to examine the impact of GHRM practices on sustainability and green creativity, in addition to the mediating effect of green dynamic capabilities and employee engagement, and the moderating effect of innovative climate on the relationships. Drawing upon the institutional theory, research hypotheses were formulated to answer the research questions of this study. The population of this study was the telecom sector of Pakistan, where respondents were employees of telecommunication organizations in Pakistan. This quantitative study employing a deductive approach and positivist research paradigm used cross-sectional data to test research hypotheses. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data collected from 374 respondents through a survey questionnaire based on a convenience sampling technique. Findings revealed that GHRM practices positively influence sustainability and green creativity. In addition, the results indicated that green dynamic capabilities mediate the relationships between GHRM practices and sustainability as well as GHRM practices and green creativity. Moreover, employee engagement mediated the relationship between GHRM practices and sustainability; however, an insignificant mediating role of employee engagement was found between GHRM practices and green creativity. Furthermore, innovative climate strengthened the relationship between GHRM practices and sustainability, while an insignificant moderating effect of innovative climate was found on the relationship between GHRM practices and green creativity. Nonetheless, the finding implies that green dynamic capabilities enhance both sustainability and green creativity of telecom organizations through GHRM practices, where employee engagement plays a pivotal role to improve sustainability, in addition to the catalytic role of innovative climate. Finally, this provides a significant contribution to the body of knowledge through the development and validation of an integrated framework that can be implemented to enhance sustainability and green creativity in general, and in the Telecom sector of Pakistan, in particular. In addition to theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners, limitations of the study and future research directions are also discussed