Toward a more sustainable environment: Understanding why and when green training promotes employees' eco‐friendly behaviors outside of work

Abstract

Although green training has been shown in past research to promote environmentally responsible behaviors at work, scholars have paid less attention to its influence on employees' eco-friendly behaviors outside of work. This omission is critical because confining green training research to the work domain obscures its benefits in promoting employees' pro-environmental behaviors beyond the workplace, and thus its role in supporting organizational efforts to conserve the natural environment. To address this gap, we examine the direct and indirect (via connectedness to nature) relationships between green training and employees' eco-friendly behaviors outside of work, including consumption of eco-friendly products, reuse of items and materials, and reduced consumption of resources such as water, electricity, and paper. We also examine the moderating influence of intrinsic spirituality on the direct link between green training and connectedness to nature, as well as the indirect link between green training and eco-friendly behaviors beyond the workplace. Using time-lagged, multisource data, we find support for our hypotheses. Our findings advance knowledge on the important yet largely overlooked role of green training in shaping employees' environmentally responsible behaviors outside of the workplace. K E Y W O R D S connectedness to nature, eco-friendly behaviors outside of work, green training, intrinsic spirituality 1 | INTRODUCTION Sustainability and environmental protection are critical factors in creating long-term value for individuals and organizations in today's global business world. Research has shown that organizations with strong green policies can elicit positive employee attitudes, attract new customers, and benefit from increased sales (Kalyar et al., 2021;Yang et al., 2011). Employees are crucial stakeholders in the implementation of green policies, implying that organizations must invest adequate resources to not only encourage green behaviors but also ultimately align employees' interests with the organization's ecofriendly objectives (Ahmad et al., 2022;Ones & Dilchert, 2012;Paillé et al., 2014). In this context, the development and deployment of green human resource management (GHRM) practices, such as

Common good human resource management, ethical employee behaviors, and organizational citizenship behaviors toward the individual

“…Over the last decade, researchers have paid attention to employee behaviors concerning HRM policies aimed at achieving corporate sustainability—e.g., green and socially responsible HRM policies (Aust et al., 2020). Green HRM is found to promote pro‐environmental employee behaviors (Dumont et al., 2017; Pham, Tučková, & Jabbour, 2019; Pinzone et al., 2016; Usman et al., 2022), while socially responsible HRM may be important in enhancing employee helping behaviors (Newman et al., 2016; Shen & Benson, 2016) and avoiding unethical pro‐organizational ones (Luu, 2021a). However, companies should focus on the common good approach in HRM to make contributions suited to address sustainability challenges and achieve the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations, instead of simply pursuing corporate sustainability ones (Dyllick & Muff, 2016).…”

The role of training in implementing corporate sustainability: A systematic literature review

“…Through CS training, employees are equipped with the necessary knowledge to successfully drive green innovation and feel more motivated to engage in innovative processes (Joshi & Dhar, 2020; Shah & Soomro, 2022; Xie & Zhu, 2020). Usman et al (2022) show that CS training gives employees a closer connection with nature, which leads them to reduce their use of resources, reuse things and use more sustainable products in their private lives as well.…”

Advancing the sustainability agenda through strategic human resource management: Insights and suggestions for future research

“…They provide encouraging evidence that sustainable HRM can lead to better and more sustainable outcomes. Usman et al (2022) draw from conservation of resources theory to investigate an important yet overlooked role of green training in shaping employee behaviors outside work. They show that green training has positive implications for eco‐friendly behaviors in the personal domain and this relationship is stronger among spiritually inclined employees.…”

“…Also, increased energy costs and living costs in recent years have affected employees' financial well‐being, which has implications for their work performance and attitudes (DuBois & Dubois, 2012). In this vein, though not explicitly stated, Usman et al (2022), in this special issue collection, investigate how HRM practices aimed at enhancing employees' pro‐environmental knowledge and skills at work influence pro‐environmental behaviors outside the workplace. This article in our collection makes a timely contribution to a broader understanding of the critical, yet largely neglected, value of sustainable HRM.…”