**1. Introduction**

With the emergent strategic concern of environmental protection, organizations nowadays are expected to be responsible for green management. Thus, strategic HRM as a framework linking elements of HRM with strategic goals and objectives is expected to play a pivotal role in fostering employees' pro-environmental behavior and in achieving sustainability of the overall organizational system (people, environment, and practices) [1, 2].

In this regard, companies strive to develop innovative environmental processes that will have significant implications for management and that are able of making employees environmentally aware, involved, and highly trained. Consequently, HRM needs to ensure that targeted HRM programs are designed and developed to raise employee awareness of the importance of environmental initiatives, develop the workforce skills as well as engage it in the corporate green goals.

Several businesses have employed a strategic tool known as green human resources management (GHRM) [3]. Masri and Jaaron [4] define GHRM as the use of human resources management practices to reinforce environmentally sustainable practices and to increase employees' commitment to the issues of environmental sustainability. Thus, with companies now changing their business strategies and efforts toward a more environmentally focused agenda; HR must adjust its mandate and expand its scope by incorporating environmental management into its core HR functions [5].

Green HR practices result in different outcomes, such as improved employee moral, stronger public image, increased employee loyalty, increased brand recognition, competitive advantage, increased workforce productivity, and increased employee retention [6].

Despite the previous literature, numerous issues remain misunderstood. Scholars have not given adequate attention to how GHRM contributes green competitiveness of the firm. It presents a major gap for scholars in green management to be filled [7]. Hence, the current study aims to bridge the gap between previous studies by expanding the understanding of how GHRM can lead to a green competitive advantage. This analysis draws on the resource-based view (RBV) and suggests that only companies with advanced personnel management in environmental issues will be able to gain a competitive advantage associated with improved green knowledge, enhanced green values, and environmentally committed employees. This paper is among the first works to deal with such a complex framework that considers the interrelationships among numerous constructs and their effects on green competitive advantage.

The present study argues that companies need to develop a GHRM that possesses both greenness and involvement attributes to improve competitive advantage in the environmentally friendly business era. Besides, one of the key elements for green competitive advantage is knowledge, commitment, and values. By increasing these three assets, workers would actually be conscientious, active, and committed to the company's environmental goals, which further contributes to the corporate environmental activities' success. The primary objectives of this study are:

