The effect of GHRM on employee voluntary pro-environmental workplace behaviour

Over the past several decades, adverse human impact on the environment has created increasing demand for companies to behave in a more sustainable manner. As a result, several new organisational concepts have developed, such as greening departmental practices, including the corporate human resources functions, to address this societal demand. In connection with this, research has acknowledged the importance of employees and their green workplace behaviour. Regardless, little research has been conducted to explain how green human resource practices may specifically influence employees’ pro-environmental workplace behaviour. Using primary data, this thesis tested a moderated-mediation model in which organisational intentions were expected to, depending on whether attributions about motives were inferred as genuine or self-serving, strengthen or weaken the indirect effect of green human resource management (GHRM) on pro-environmental voluntary workplace behaviour through organisational identification. As predicted, the findings showed that GHRM positively influences pro environmental workplace behaviour via organisational identification. Though unexpected, it was also established that organisational intentions do not impact this moderated relationship in any way. The findings of the study contribute to the emerging literature on green human resource management and have implications for organisations seeking to increase environmental sustainability throughout their organisations down to the individual employee.