Sustainable manufacturing and green human resources: Critical success factors in the automotive sector

Abstract

This study aims to identify critical success factors (CSFs) for implementing sustainability in organizational human resources management (OHRM) within the automotive sector (AS). A literature review was carried out to identify the OHRM factors that are instrumental for the significant adoption of sustainable practices (SP) in the sector. Based on the outcomes from the literature review, an expert team composed of 17 experts from the AS, academia, and consultancy firms were consulted in order to identify cause–effect relationships among CSFs using a multi‐criteria decision making tool. Data were gathered in India from November 2019 to April 2020. The results revealed that top management support and environmental auditing for suppliers are the two most important CSFs to be prioritized among the factors studied, which implies that by managing these factors first, automotive manufacturers may deal better with the adoption of SP. As a result of prioritizing these two factors, other CSFs related to OHRM (e.g., organizational culture, environmental training, rewards, and incentives) will also positively affect the adoption of SP. The novelty of this study comes through raising the importance of environmental auditing for suppliers as a factor that can facilitate not only the adoption of SP in the AS, but the other OHRM factors as well.

Testing the stakeholder pressure, relative advantage, top management commitment and green human resource management linkage

“…Furthermore, the resource‐based theory supports this finding (Barney, 1991; Barney et al, 2011), in which top management commitment is viewed as a crucial internal organisational source for implementing environmental practices (Dai et al, 2015). These results are consistent with earlier studies, which found that top management commitment influenced the adoption of the ISO 14001 environmental management system (Chiarini, 2019), green HRM (Obeidat et al, 2018; Yusliza et al, 2019), sustainable practices (Gedam et al, 2021), and green procurement (Liu et al, 2020). The relationship between each green HRM practice and top management commitment is discussed in detail below.…”

“…According to previous studies of green practices, top management commitment is required to create an efficient ISO 14001 environmental management system (Chiarini, 2019), adopt sustainable practices (Gedam et al, 2021), engage in green procurement (Liu et al, 2020), and green HRM (Yusliza et al, 2019). 2019) highlighted that top management involvement is critical in adopting green HRM practices to create a positive environmental performance.…”

“…The dedication of top management is commonly regarded as a critical factor influencing environmental activity management. According to previous studies of green practices, top management commitment is required to create an efficient ISO 14001 environmental management system (Chiarini, 2019), adopt sustainable practices (Gedam et al, 2021), engage in green procurement (Liu et al, 2020), and green HRM (Yusliza et al, 2019).…”

“…Chiarini (2019) empirically found that top management commitment significantly and positively influenced ISO 14001 environmental management system implementation within the construction sector.The top management reportedly must establish priorities and targets and allocate funding for sustainability investments, such as training. Furthermore,Gedam et al (2021) discovered the importance of top management commitment in adopting sustainable practices in the Indian automotive sector. They further argue that senior management plays a vital role in ensuring that these policies and practices must be deeply rooted within an organisation and among employees Liu et al (2020).…”

Critical success factors‐based strategy to facilitate green manufacturing for responsible business: An application experience in Indian context

“…The study (Chaudhary, 2020;Gedam et al, 2021;Song et al, 2020) holds that stakeholders of manufacturing plants are responsible for technology development for green and eco-friendly solutions. Scholars observe that CSFs like commitment from top, greening of activities with the support of employees and suppliers' involvement are important.…”