Author Identifier

Abdul-Razak Suleman: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9810-8233

Date of Award

2026

Keywords

Strategic green intentions, green HRM, sustainable business performance, employee green behaviour, turnover intention, green commitment, hospitality and tourism industry, hotels, Ghana

Document Type

Thesis - ECU Access Only

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

School

School of Business and Law

First Supervisor

Mehran Nejati

Second Supervisor

Janice Redmond

Third Supervisor

Azadeh Shafaei

Abstract

Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM) can serve as a means of achieving sustainability in the hospitality and tourism industry, yet the field lacks an integrated account of its antecedents, implementation, and outcomes. This thesis by publication addresses that gap by (i) systematising fragmented evidence, (ii) explaining how and why hotels in a developing economy adopt Green HRM, and (iii) testing the multilevel pathways through which strategic green intentions (SGI) translate into organisational and employee outcomes. Guided by the Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), the thesis integrates three papers: a systematic review, a qualitative study, and a two-study quantitative investigation. Paper 1 provides a foundational synthesis by reviewing 77 studies using PRISMA and structuring insights through the Antecedents–Decisions–Outcomes (ADO) and Theories–Contexts–Methods (TCM) frameworks. It maps theoretical fragmentation, geographic and industry concentration, and methodological weaknesses, highlights underexplored antecedents, decisions, and outcomes (including the dark side of Green HRM), and advances a future research agenda with eleven questions and six objectives. Building on these insights, Paper 2 reports in-depth semi-structured interviews with twelve managerial staff from emerging (1–2 star) and established (3–5 star) hotels in Ghana. Thematic analysis shows that Green HRM adoption is driven by regulatory and customer pressures, cost efficiency, leadership commitment, and certification imperatives. Established hotels implement structured, technology-enabled recruitment, training, and performance systems that visibly support specific SDGs, including goals 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), whereas emerging hotels rely on ad-hoc initiatives and external partnerships; implementation is impeded by employee resistance and communication delays. Paper 3 employs a two-study survey design, drawing on data from managers/supervisors (Study 1, n = 282) and frontline employees (Study 2, n = 302), and estimates models using a disjoint two-stage PLS-SEM approach. Study 1 shows that SGI do not directly improve economic or environmental performance and are negatively associated with economic performance, reflecting upfront investment costs. However, Green HRM practices fully mediate SGI’s effects on economic and environmental performance and partially mediate social performance. Study 2 demonstrates that Green HRM practices strengthen employee green commitment (EGC), which in turn increases employee green behaviour (EGB), while showing no direct or indirect effect on employee turnover intention (ETI), suggesting potential boundary conditions for retention outcomes. These findings underscore Green HRM as a critical implementation mechanism through which SGI are translated into organisational and employee-level sustainability outcomes. Collectively, the thesis offers a coherent, multilevel account linking strategy, HRM systems, and outcomes in a developing-country context, combining NRBV and SCT to elucidate the human capital mechanisms that translate environmental intent into capability and behaviour.

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Access to this thesis is embargoed until 13th May 2031 

Access to chapter 4 & appendix 4.2 of this thesis are not available 

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.25958/6n37-4y56