Go green! Measuring the factors that influence sustainable performance

Abstract

This study examines the GHRM practices and the transformational leadership specific to environmental sustainability of Pakistan's dairy industry. It also investigates the mediating role of pro-environmental behaviour in the relationship of GHRM practices, The environmental-specific transformational leadership, and sustainable behavior. Additionally, the study examines the moderating role of the pro-environmental attitude between GHRM practices and The environmental-specific transformational leadership. The target population consists of employees working in dairy organizations of Pakistan. A simple random sampling technique was used for data collection. A survey questionnaire method was used to collect data; after data screening a total of 430 responses were subjected to SEM for analysis. The findings indicated that the GHRM practices play a significant role in improving employee environmental and sustainable behavior. The environmental-specific transformational leadership positively affects the pro-environmental behaviour of employees, but its impact on sustainable performance is insignificant. In addition, GHRM practices and environmental-specific transformational leadership have been shown to indirectly contribute to sustainable performance through environmental behavior. The pro-environmental attitude moderates the effect of GHRM practices and environmental-specific transformational leadership on pro-environmental behavior, and pro-environmental behavior leads to sustainable performance. This study is one of the rare attempts to examine the integrated impact of GHRM practices and environmental-specific transformational leadership on pro-environmental behavior and sustainable performance in the domain of environmental management. It explicitly offers insights into the literature by developing a mechanism to improve sustainable performance through GHRM practices and environmental-specific transformational leadership in the dairy industry. The findings of this study have postulated that a package of GHRM practices and environmental-specific transformational leadership is needed to build pro-environmental behavior and foster sustainable performance. It can help managers in their effort to build environmental friendly behavior under the lens of a pro-environmental attitude that facilitates sustainable performance. Aligned to cope with the increasing environmental concerns of the dairy industry, this study proposes that managers would support specific transformational environmental leadership along with green discipline by raising pro-environmental behaviour under the lens of a pro-environmental attitude for the implication of environmental policies to achieve sustainable performance of dairy firms.