Let the Employees Strengthen for a Sustainable Future: A Systematic Literature Review of Sustainable HRM

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.main##

Wajahat Ullah
Maawra Salam
Dr. Bashir Ahmad
Shahid Iqbal
Dr. Muhammad Naeem Shahid

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the developments in  construct of sustainable human resources management and to identify key elements, trends and research gaps for future. Therefore, a systematic literature review was carried out using Google Scholar database, covering the period from 2001 to 2024, which resulted in a corpus of 115 scientific articles.The date is simply tabulated  The results showed four categories, which comprise 74% of the elementary units of the corpus analyzed. The first comprised studies on sustainable leadership, based on individual and group power and embedded in its principles, processes, practices and organizational values. The second demonstrated the relationship among human resources management, environmental sustainability and organizational performance. The third category considered the tensions and paradoxes between human resources management practices and sustainability: on the one hand, human resources management should focus on cost reduction and corporate profitability (in the short-term); on the other, their actions should provide long-term sustainability of organizational performance. The last category dealt with the link between human resources management and the social dimension of sustainability, especially with regard to organizational social responsibility and the company’s relationship with its stakeholders. In conclusion, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the topic of sustainable human resources management by analyzing the state of the art and future directions of human resources studies.

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.details##

How to Cite
[1]
Ullah, W. , Salam, M. , Ahmad, B. , Iqbal, S. and Shahid, M.N. 2024. Let the Employees Strengthen for a Sustainable Future: A Systematic Literature Review of Sustainable HRM. Journal of Policy Research. 10, 3 (Sep. 2024), 387–398. DOI:https://doi.org/10.61506/02.00357.

References

  1. Aibaghi-Esfahani, S. A. E. E. D., Rezaii, H., Koochmeshki, N., & Sharifi-Parsa, Saeed. (2017). Sustainable and flexible human resource management for innovative organizations. AD-minister, (30), 195-215 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17230/ad-minister.30.10
  2. Anlesinya, A., & Susomrith, P. (2020). Sustainable human resource management: a systematic review of a developing field. Journal of Global Responsibility, 11(3), 295-324. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-04-2019-0038
  3. Bansal, P. (2005). Evolving sustainably: A longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development. Strategic management journal, 26(3), 197-218. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.441
  4. Choi, H., Lee, J. Y., Choi, Y., Juan, Y., & Lee, C. K. (2022). How to enhance smart work effectiveness as a sustainable HRM practice in the tourism industry. Sustainability, 14(4), 2218. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042218
  5. De Prins, P., Van Beirendonck, L., De Vos, A., & Segers, J. (2014). Sustainable HRM: Bridging theory and practice through the'Respect Openness Continuity (ROC)'-model. Management revue, 263-284. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0935-9915-2014-4-263
  6. Ehnert, I., 2006, Sustainability Issues in Human in Human Resource Management: Linkages, theoretical approaches, and outlines for an emerging field. Paper prepared for 21st EIASM SHRM Workshop, Aston, Birmingham, March 28th - 29th .
  7. Ehnert, I., 2011, Sustainability and Human Resource Management, in The Future of Employment Relations, eds. A. Wilkinson and K. Townsend, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 215–237. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230349421_12
  8. Ehnert, I., and Harry, W., 2012, Recent Developments and Future Prospects on Sustainable Human Resource Management: Introduction to the Special Issue, Management Revue, 23, 3, 221–238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0935-9915-2012-3-221
  9. Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied psychology, 71(3), 500. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.71.3.500
  10. Elkington, J. (1998). Partnerships from cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st‐century business. Environmental quality management, 8(1), 37-51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/tqem.3310080106
  11. Eby, L. T., Freeman, D. M., Rush, M. C., & Lance, C. E. (1999). Motivational bases of affective organizational commitment: A partial test of an integrative theoretical model. Journal of occupational and organizational psychology, 72(4), 463-483. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1348/096317999166798
  12. .Gomes, G. P., Coelho, A., & Ribeiro, N. (2024). A systematic literature review on sustainable HRM and its relations with employees' attitudes: state of art and future research agenda. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-11-2023-0497
  13. Guerci, M., Shani, A. B., & Solari, L. (2013). A stakeholder perspective for sustainable HRM: Literature review and a research agenda. Sustainability and human resource management: Developing sustainable business organizations, 205-223. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37524-8_9
  14. Ibrahim, N. S., & Rahman, R. A. (2017). Sustainable human resource management practices in the Malaysian public sector: An exploratory study. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(4), 2222-6990. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i4/2920
  15. Jabbour, C. J. C., & Santos, F. C. A. (2008). The central role of human resource management in the search for sustainable organizations. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(12), 2133-2154. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585190802479389
  16. Kainzbauer, A., & Rungruang, P. (2019). Science mapping the knowledge base on sustainable human resource management, 1982–2019. Sustainability, 11(14), 3938. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143938
  17. Kramar, R. (2014). Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The international journal of human resource management, 25(8), 1069-1089. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.816863
  18. Kumar, A., Bhaskar, P., Nadeem, S. P., Tyagi, M., & Garza-Reyes, J. A. (2020). Sustainability adoption through sustainable human resource management: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework. International Journal of Mathematical, Engineering and Management Sciences, 5(6), 1014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33889/IJMEMS.2020.5.6.078
  19. Lu, Y., Zhang, M. M., Yang, M. M., & Wang, Y. (2023). Sustainable human resource management practices, employee resilience, and employee outcomes: Toward common good values. Human Resource Management, 62(3), 331-353. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22153
  20. Luthra, S., Garg, D., & Haleem, A. (2015). An analysis of interactions among critical success factors to implement green supply chain management towards sustainability: An Indian perspective. Resources Policy, 46, 37-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2014.12.006
  21. Liang, X., Zhang, X., Paulet, R., & Zheng, L. J. (2022). A literature review of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on sustainable HRM. Sustainability, 14(5), 2579. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052579
  22. Macke, J., & Genari, D. (2019). Systematic literature review on sustainable human resource management. Journal of cleaner production, 208, 806-815. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.091
  23. Manzoor, F., Wei, L., Bányai, T., Nurunnabi, M., & Subhan, Q. A. (2019). An examination of sustainable HRM practices on job performance: An application of training as a moderator. Sustainability, 11(8), 2263. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082263
  24. Mariappanadar, S. (2013). The model of negative externality for sustainable HRM. In Sustainability and Human Resource Management: Developing Sustainable Business Organizations (pp. 181-203). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37524-8_8
  25. Mariappanadar, S., & Kramar, R. (2014). Sustainable HRM: The synthesis effect of high performance work systems on organisational performance and employee harm. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 6(3), 206-224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/APJBA-03-2014-0039
  26. Mariappanadar, S. (Ed.). (2019). Sustainable human resource management: Strategies, practices and challenges. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  27. Mariappanadar, S. (2020). Characteristics of sustainable HRM system and practices for implementing corporate sustainability. Sustainable Human Resource Management: Transforming Organizations, Societies and Environment, 9-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5656-2_2
  28. Mariappanadar, S. (2020). Do HRM systems impose restrictions on employee quality of life? Evidence from a sustainable HRM perspective. Journal of Business Research, 118, 38-48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.06.039
  29. Marquis, C., Jackson, S. E., & Li, Y. (2015). Building sustainable organizations in China. Management and Organization Review, 11(3), 427-440. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2015.37
  30. Moore, S., & Wen, J. J. (2008). 14 An initial exploration of sustainable work systems in China. Creating Sustainable Work Systems: Developing Social Sustainability, 217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203890028.ch14
  31. Piwowar‐Sulej, K. (2021). Core functions of Sustainable Human Resource Management. A hybrid literature review with the use of H‐Classics methodology. Sustainable development, 29(4), 671-693. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2166
  32. Piwowar-Sulej, K. (2024). Sustainable human resource management: a mixed-method analysis of the research field focusing on the visegrad countries. Central European Management Journal. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CEMJ-10-2023-0391
  33. Pfeffer, J. (1987). A resource dependence perspective on intercorporate relations. Intercorporate relations: The structural analysis of business, 1(1), 25-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511570841.002
  34. Qamar, F., Afshan, G., & Rana, S. A. (2023). Sustainable HRM and well-being: systematic review and future research agenda. Management Review Quarterly, 1-51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-023-00360-6
  35. Siddique, N., Naveed, S., & Inam, A. (2024). A bibliometric review on sustainable human resource management (1982–2023). Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-09-2023-0432
  36. Singh, S., Awasthi, K., Patra, P., Srivastava, J., & Trivedi, S. K. (2024). Sustainable HRM the next hotspot for management research? A study using topic modelling. International Journal of Organizational Analysis. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-08-2023-3940
  37. Stankevičiūtė, Ž., & Savanevičienė, A. (2018). Raising the curtain in people management by exploring how sustainable HRM translates to practice: The case of Lithuanian organizations. Sustainability, 10(12), 4356.
  38. Stankevičiūtė, Ž., & Savanevičienė, A. (2018). Designing sustainable HRM: The core characteristics of emerging field. Sustainability, 10(12), 4798.
  39. Shahid, M. N., & HAMID, S. (2019). Impact of Sustainable Human Resource Management Practices on Secondary School Teacher Job Performance: A Conceptual Framework of Teacher Psychological Ownership. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 6(2), 217-241.
  40. Stankevičiūtė, Ž., & Savanevičienė, A. (2018). Designing sustainable HRM: The core characteristics of emerging field. Sustainability, 10(12), 4798. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124798
  41. Stankevičiūtė, Ž., & Savanevičienė, A. (2018). Raising the curtain in people management by exploring how sustainable HRM translates to practice: The case of Lithuanian] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124356
  42. organizations. Sustainability, 10(12), 4356.
  43. Van Buren III, H. J. (2022). The value of including employees: a pluralist perspective on sustainable HRM. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 44(3), 686-701. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-01-2019-0041
  44. Vihari, N. S., & Rao, M. K. (2018). Antecedents and consequences of sustainable human resource management: Empirical evidence from India. Jindal Journal of Business Research, 7(1), 61-85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2278682117754015
  45. Wang, C. J. (2019). Linking sustainable human resource management in hospitality: An empirical investigation of the integrated mediated moderation model. Sustainability, 11(4), 1066. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su11041066
  46. Yadav, M., Kumar, A., Mangla, S. K., Luthra, S., Bamel, U., & Garza-Reyes, J. A. (2019). Mapping the human resource focused enablers with sustainability viewpoints in Indian power sector. Journal of cleaner production, 210, 1311-1323. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.132
  47. Zaugg, R. J., Blum, A., & Thom, N. (2001). Sustainability in human resource management. Evaluation Report. Survey in European Companies and Institutions. Arbeitsbericht des Instituts für Organisation und Personal der Universität Bern und des eidgenössischen Personalamtes, 1(1), 1-31.