**2.1 GHRM**

According to Yong et al. [8] activities with a green focus are difficult to initiate as they require systemic change, and any change has to be initiated, implemented, and

*Toward a Better Understanding of Green Human Resource Management's Impact on Green… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105528*

accepted by employees. Thus, human aspects are particularly important for environmental management because of the significant challenges that must be overcome by organizations striving to implement a large-scale organizational change [9].

Thus, GHRM is the result of increased efforts to integrate proactive environmental management with HR practices [10]. It is considered as a set of approaches, policies, methods, and strategies that motivate a company's employees to perform green behavior and create an environmentally compatible work environment that is resource-efficient and socially responsible [11].

According to Gohar [12], GHRM is the utilization of HRM guidelines, strategies, and pursuits to encourage sustainable use of resources and prohibit injury arising from environmental concerns within business establishments. Thus, GHRM equips the organization with an environment-oriented workforce that understands, appreciates, and practices green initiatives and maintains its green objectives all throughout the HRM practices to drive sustainable management results [13].

According to Dumont et al. [5], for GHRM to be an impactful force in fostering green employee behavior in the workplace, it is necessary to ensure that the company has recruitment strategies to attract employees who have similar environmental values and beliefs to those of the organization; performance assessment and rewards practices that consider individual environmental performance; and effective training programs that nurture environmental awareness, attitudes, skills, and knowledge.

In addition, GHRM has the ability to encourage employee engagement and participation in environmental practices, which can increase their sense of belonging and pride, and thus motivate them to work harder [14]. These environmentally friendly practices can help the company to develop a good reputation, reduce stakeholder pressure and provide long-term benefits for future generations [14].

As posited by Bombiak [15], it is imperative that companies build green organizational culture through raised ecological awareness and development of environmentally friendly attitudes. This is only possible through environmental education on the conditions and needs of the environment and through the design and implementation of motivation systems that will promote engagement in various forms of environmental activity.

The major goal of GHRM is to educate employees on the intricacies of environmental management, that is, what to do, how it works, and how it benefits the environment. Those actions motivate employees and develop in them a sense of pride in being part of the going green program [16]. Thus, GHRM has been given direct responsibility to develop a green workforce through HR practices such as recruitment, training, development, etc., with benefits reaching the individual employee, the company, the society, the nation, and the global environment [10]. **Figure 1** presents a synthesis of green human resources management practices.

#### **2.2 Green competitive advantage**

When a firm can accomplish somewhat a competitor cannot do or has something a competing firm aims for, then this would lead to a competitive advantage [18]. According to Barney [19], a firm is said to have a competitive advantage when it is implementing a value-creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitor and when these other firms are unable to duplicate the benefits of this strategy.

In the environmental sphere, Chen and Chang [20] defined green competitive advantage as a condition under which firms occupy some positions about environmental management or green innovation where their competitors cannot copy its
