Corporate environmental management: A review and integration of green human resource management and green logistics

Abstract

Purpose

Green human resource management (GHRM) and sustainable green logistics (SGLOG) are some of the mechanisms by which sustainable corporate environmental management could be consummated. However, prior studies linking GHRM and green logistics are lacking in the literature. This paper extends prior efforts by developing a model linking GHRM and SGLOG.

Design/methodology/approach

An integrative review of extant literature on green human resource management and sustainable green logistics was conducted, and an integrative model developed.

Findings

Improving environmental performance is a key way that businesses can improve their corporate social responsibility and brand image. The resulting model includes expanded components of GHRM (training, development, compensation, awards and recognition, recruitment, and performance management) and of SGLOG (transportation and shipping, warehousing, packaging, and reverse logistics). Categories of shipping and transportation include the following facets: transportation intensity, modal split, emissions intensity, energy efficiency, and vehicle utilization efficiency. The model also highlights the mediating role of management and employee attitudes, knowledge, and skills in the GHRM-SGLOG link, as well as their interaction.

Research limitations/implications

Green human resource management is associated with sustainable green logistics. This association is theoretically mediated by management and employee attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Top management support and influence of other stakeholders are key facilitators.

Practical implications

The paper suggests potential barriers to GHRM and SGLOG adoption/diffusion and panaceas. It also proposes some key drivers of sustainable green logistics and corporate environmental management.

Firms must carry out their operations in ways that do not compromise societal and environmental well-being. High economic performance alone no longer suffice. A balanced performance that also emphasizes social and environmental well-being (the triple bottom line, 3BL) can be achieve through the implementation of the proposed model.

Originality/value

The integrative model presented in the paper advances the current understanding of the link between GHRM and SGLOG. The paper adds additional value by unveiling some key future research directions.

Citation

Al-Minhas, U., Ndubisi, N.O. and Barrane, F.Z. (2020), "Corporate environmental management: A review and integration of green human resource management and green logistics", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 431-450. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-07-2019-0161