**4. Gaining a competitive advantage through green human resource management**

Considering the recent rapid changes and developments, businesses should be more active and innovative in this dynamic process. The pressure of competition and quality through globalization on the one hand and the changing conditions on the other hand force the businesses to change or renovate their business structure, processes, and implementations. Within this system, human resources constitute the primary source of business growth and development; therefore, human resource management becomes more significant. Human resources constitute the driving power for change and renovations in businesses, and they also play a distinctive role in economic, social, and environmental sustainability of the business.

Green human resource management orients the environmental practices toward the protection of environment. Business mission and vision about environmental issues, management philosophy, harmonization of human resources policy and implementations, employee consciousness about the rules and implementation related to environmental protection, and informing and training of employees on these issues are all among the environmental practices of the businesses.

Various sources and capabilities are not sufficient for companies to gain a competitive advantage. Competitive advantage mostly is gained through exclusive capabilities or resources of the business. Therefore, while traditional sources of competitive advantage like natural resources, technology, and scale-economy create a value for the business, source-based approach indicates that these factors could easily be imitated as compared to social structures like personnel system. Indeed, a well-developed human resource management system can be a significant source for competitive advantage. Source-based approach constitutes the theoretical basis for the potential role of human resources as a strategic value. Business tendencies toward the valuable and inimitable internal sources to gain a competitive advantage further increase the strategic significance of human resources [36].

Business consciousness on natural environment developed through the environmental disasters experienced throughout the world and pressures exerted on businesses about environmental consciousness have carried the environmentalist practices of businesses a step further. Green business practices pave the way for an atmosphere with a competitive advantage through economic and environmental sustainability [23]. As a result, business performance is improved, costs are reduced, employee commitment and other organizational outcomes are improved, and carbon footprint of the companies is reduced [23] with GHRM and green human resource practices thanks to increased employee awareness of sustainability. The practices like electronic filing, car-pooling, job-sharing, teleconferencing and virtual interviews, recycling [20] telecommunication technologies, online training, optimal utilization of energy-efficient office spaces, etc. are efficient in reducing the carbon footprint of the businesses. The productivity gained through GHRM practices reduces the operational costs and helps the businesses to be aware of their organizational and social responsibilities [22, 37]. GHRM strictly implements ISO14000 Standards, takes the environmental inspection into account, alters the organizational culture, and helps the employee and producers in creating a business image and a brand.
