How Green Human Resource Management Can Promote Green Employee Behavior in China: A Technology Acceptance Model Perspective

Abstract

Green human resource management (GHRM) in the environmental management of organizations has gradually become a key issue in academic circles, and its impact on employees’ green behavior has received increasing attention. However, few studies have explored its impact from the perspective of information delivery. Based on an analysis of the literature, this research discusses the influence route of five types of GHRM practices (employee life cycle, rewards, education and training, employee empowerment, and manager involvement) on employee green behavior in the workplace and the mediating effects of information needs based on the technology acceptance model. Using cross-sectional survey data from enterprises in the People’s Republic of China, the proposed theoretical model was tested and the results showed that employee life cycle, education and training, employee empowerment, and manager involvement all significantly affect the in-role and extra-role green behavior of employees positively, while rewards only significantly predict extra-role behaviors. Information need plays a mediating role on the influence route of the employee life cycle, education and training, and manager involvement on the green behavior of the employees in the workplace.

Exploring the Interplay of Green Human Resource Management, Employee Green Behavior, and Personal Moral Norms

“…To encourage EGB in the organizations, there have been attempts to find ways by which this green behavior can be influenced (Ardente et al, 2006). A study of EGB among employees in China examined whether EGB can be predicted by green human resource management (green HRM) through the information need of employees (Zhang et al, 2019). Another study among hotel employees in Pakistan showed that EGB was affected by CSR, environmental awareness, environmental concern, and environmental knowledge through the sense of well-being (Ahmed et al, 2020).…”

“…Green HRM is defined as the facets of green management that encourage employees' environmentally friendly behavior in the organizations (Renwick et al, 2013). Green HRM is the main platform in organizations through which their environmental performance may be achieved (Zhang et al, 2019). There is evidence that green HRM is linked with EGB; however, it is stated that the literature on green HRM and EGB requires more evidence regarding the underlying mechanisms through which the green HRM affects the EGB (Dumont et al, 2016;.…”

Employee-Organization Fit and Voluntary Green Behavior: A Cross-Level Model Examining the Role of Perceived Insider Status and Green Organizational Climate

“…Based on previous empirical studies on voluntary green behavior, this study included five control variables. First, demographic variables would influence individual green behavior [8,12,67]. Hence, the present study controlled for employee gender (1 = female; 2 = male), age (in years), education (1 = junior college or below; 2 = bachelor; 3 = postgraduate), and organizational tenure (in years).…”

“…In fact, there is accumulating evidence suggesting that the improvement of an organization's environmental performance relies a lot on individual employee behaviors [6][7][8][9]. Therefore, in recent years, organizational scholars have shown great interest in investigating employee green behaviors in the workplace [10][11][12].…”

“…Employee green behaviors are voluntary or involuntary "scalable actions and behaviors that employees engage in that are linked with and contribute to or detract from environmental sustainability" ( [7], p. 87). Since most green behaviors in the workplace are voluntary [12,13] and cryptic in nature [8], voluntary green behavior has received much more scholastic attention than involuntary green behavior, especially pertaining to its antecedents [2,8]. Hitherto, studies in the field of organizational management have mainly adopted three different theoretical perspectives to explore the antecedents of voluntary green behavior.…”