An evaluation of green human resource management practices as an approach to environmental/organisational sustainability : a case study of a private tertiary institution, in Durban South Africa

Abstract

The overall aim of this study is to evaluate the green human resource management practice of green recruitment and selection as an innovative approach to environmental/organisational sustainability and to propose a framework for green human resource management through the lens of green recruitment and selection. The problem to be examined in this study is that the organisation under study conducts an induction and orientation program for newly hired employees but fails to provide instruction regarding their work and responsibilities in terms of environmental and organisational sustainability. In addition, the organisational management is equally not providing any awareness programs about the green environment, thus leading to the lack of knowledge on green environmental practices such as green recruitment and selection - a significant function of green human resource management that has the potential to leverage environmental and organisational sustainability. Furthermore, it is evident that for recruitment and selection purposes, the company is applying various tests rather than using e-selection or telephone interview/video conferencing, thereby increasing the usage of carbon footprints, high costs, and more time to conduct the recruitment and selection process. The three main objectives of the study were to examine green human resource management practices; describe factors that enable and constrain green human resource management practices such as green recruitment and selection in leveraging organisational sustainability; analyse the effect of the green recruitment and selection of human resource management practices on environmental/organisational sustainability; and propose a framework for the development implementation of green recruitment and selection to enhance organisational sustainability. The research was quantitative, and a pre-coded structured close-ended questionnaire plotted on a five (5) Point Likert Scale was used to administer the instrument to the chosen sample respondents. The questionnaire covered three (3) Sections, each premised on a topic related to the research problem. The target population consisted of two thousand and two hundred (n=2200) employees of a private tertiary educational institution in Durban from which three hundred and twenty-four (n=324) were selected as the sampling population. This embodied a high response rate for a quantitative study. After the study was completed, the thesis was subjected to anti-plagiarism software turnitin program to test for plagiarism, and this proved useful. The quantitative data were clustered into input and output variables which were regressed with SPSS version 29.0. descriptive and inferential statistics encompassing factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) were equally used to further explore the data. A relevant test for assessing reliability was recognised in this study. Following these processes, some important findings were as follows: Findings from the study confirmed that green recruitment and selection is a critical component in fostering a sustainable organisational culture. The findings further indicate that effective green recruitment practices not only attract environmentally conscious candidates but also enhance overall organisational awareness and commitment to sustainability. Furthermore, environmental consciousness emerged as a vital element in the organisation’s sustainability efforts. The positive relationship between environmental consciousness and both green recruitment and selection and sustainable leadership suggests that fostering an environmentally aware culture within the organisation is crucial. The findings posit that sustainable leadership was found to be significantly influenced by both green recruitment and selection and environmental consciousness. The study demonstrates that leadership plays a pivotal role in driving sustainability initiatives and shaping the organisational culture. It was also revealed that biographical Influences are significant. The study also revealed that demographic factors such as age, tenure, and position within the organisation significantly influence perceptions of the three key dimensions. Younger employees, those with shorter tenure, and those in teaching roles generally had more positive perceptions of the organisation’s sustainability practices. With these findings, a proposed exploratory framework for the private tertiary educational institution will benefit and help in increasing efficiency, cost reduction, eliminating environmental waste, and fostering green behaviour among selected job candidates eventually leading to environmental and organisational sustainability. The study completes with recommendations and areas for further search in this green human resource management an emerging area in the human resource management domain.