Linking Green Human Resource Management Practices to Environmental Performance in Hotel Industry

TLDR

The hotel sector in developing countries is expanding rapidly but also contributes significantly to environmental degradation, prompting a shift toward sustainable practices such as green HRM. This study investigates whether green HRM practices improve environmental performance in Malaysia’s hotel industry. Guided by the resource‑based view, the authors surveyed HR managers in 206 3‑ to 5‑star Malaysian hotels and used PLS‑SEM to test relationships between green recruitment, training, appraisal, compensation and environmental performance. Green recruitment, training and development, and compensation were positively linked to environmental performance, while green performance appraisal was not; the study is the first to empirically map these effects in the hotel sector.

Abstract

The hotel industry is growing rapidly in developing countries due to an increase in the tourism industry; however, on the other hand, the hotel industry is one of the sectors largely increasing the burden on the environment. Therefore, due to the massive number of environmental issues that hotel industry has encountered, there is an increasing force to pay a correct reaction to environmental issues and executing sustainable business practices such as the adoption of green human resource management (HRM) practices provide a win–win situation for the organization and its stakeholders. It, therefore, signals the need to examine how green HRM practices will enhance the environmental performance in the hotel industry. Grounded by resource-based view theory, this study utilized a research model examining the relationship between green HRM practices (green recruitment and selection, green training and development, green performance appraisal, and green compensation) and environmental performance in Malaysia’s hotel industry. Questionnaires were distributed to human resource (HR) managers/ executives in 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels in Malaysia. A total of 206 hotels participated in the study. The data collected were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Based on the analysis, the study revealed that green recruitment and selection, green training and development, and green compensation have a meaningful relationship with environmental performance, while green performance appraisal did not have a significant relationship with environmental performance. Our results extend previous research by not only highlighting the importance of green HRM practices in driving environmental performance but also indicating how each dimension of green HRM practices either enhances or inhibits environmental performance. This is the first empirical research that investigates the relationship between green HRM and environmental performance in the hotel industry literature.