Translating stakeholder pressures into environmental performance – the mediating role of green HRM practices

TLDR

Stakeholder theory posits that external pressures shape firm decisions and resource development, prompting research into green HRM practices that respond to environmental stakeholder demands. The study empirically tests how green hiring, training/involvement, and performance management/compensation mediate the link between customer and regulatory environmental pressures and firm environmental performance. A multi‑respondent survey of Italian HR and supply chain managers was used to assess the mediating effects of these green HRM practices between customer and regulatory pressures and environmental performance. Results confirm that these green HRM practices mediate the relationship between stakeholder pressures and environmental performance, supporting a broader, context‑aware HRM perspective.

Abstract

This paper contributes to extant research on green human resource management (HRM) relying on the instrumental value of stakeholder theory, which implies that stakeholders impact on company decisions and their development of organizational resources and performance. Following that theory, the study conceives green HRM practices as a set of management processes that companies implement for responding to stakeholder pressures on environmental issues. Accordingly with those premises, we empirically test the distinct role that different green HRM practices (i.e. green hiring, green training and involvement, and green performance management and compensation) play in mediating the relationship between pressures on environmental issues from two specific external stakeholders (i.e. customers and regulatory stakeholders) and environmental performance. Our findings, based on a multi-respondent survey in which the respondents were Human Resource Managers and Supply Chain Managers operating in Italy, confirm the hypothesized mediation model. Our results (as well as their implications) are discussed in light of the recent calls to broaden the scope of HRM research, considering the embeddedness of the company in a socio-political context and exploring the role that actors and factors outside the company play in shaping its green HRM practices.