Introduction

Globally, we are in the midst of an environmental emergency. One of the most important things about humanity is the environment in which we live. The world of the 21st century is reliant on fashion, machinery, and technology. People are pursuing these luxury items because they enhance daily living standards. However, these companies produce a lot of trash and contaminate the environment (Jabbour & Santos, 2008a, 2008b; Sharma & Gupta, 2015). People throughout the world are becoming more and more affected by environmental challenges, which can lead to a variety of health conditions. According to Ray et al. (2005), certain climate change accords have rekindled the sustainability movement by emphasizing “Doing well by doing good.” A study on sustainable development published in 1987 by the Brundtland Commission, also known as the WCED, sparked a growing curiosity in the business environment. Creating a shared goal for world transformation and humankind’s future is the report’s primary goal. It also addresses future ecological growth, social, and economic issues by not jeopardizing most humanity’s ability to live in a natural environment. Corporate leaders are addressing the issue by making environmental protection among the other significant societal objectives (Pinzone et al., 2016). A new term for environmentally beneficial behavior is “green,” which has emerged because of widespread concern. There has been global agreement over the last 20 years regarding the significance of environmentally conscious growth that is favorable (González-Benito & González-Benito, 2006). The relevance of “Green HRM” has grown in the current environment since it gives businesses a competitive edge over rival businesses. Integrating environmental concerns into various operations, such as human resource management, is the first step towards being green. Organizations can use green human resource management (GHRM) to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR), create green reward programs, increase environmental awareness, and include sustainability standards in hiring, training, and development processes to meet environmental requirements. By encouraging sustainability, a culture of sustainability grows. In this way, a culture of sustainability that promotes environmental awareness is fostered. As the green movement gains popularity, researchers are becoming more interested in GHRM. There might, however, still be unfilled information in some areas of the literature that require attention.

Examining the evolution and patterns in the literature on GHRM and sustainability is the main driving force behind this research. Citation trends, commonly referred sources, and the impact of GHRM research on related subjects are all part of this process. Bibliographic research facilitates combining multiple information resources into a cohesive structure. This makes it possible to identify underrepresented or deficient study areas and guides future scholars on how to close such voids as well as increase the corpus of information on the topic. The aim of carrying out a more thorough analysis of GHRM and sustainability utilizing databases like Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) is another motivation behind this study. Because prior papers employed either of the two datasets (Table 1), we can see the benefit of merging them in this manuscript. Because this approach allows individuals to concurrently obtain a greater amount of information and perspectives from each source, it strives to provide a thorough knowledge of GHRM and sustainability. By combining both datasets, we anticipate examining GHRM and sustainability more thoroughly and perceptively. The findings of this investigation aid in identifying the most crucial researchers, previous or earlier talks, along with suggestions for further research. A suitable method for identifying all the significant scientific information in the research field is bibliographic analysis. According to Forliano et al. (2021), this method assists academics and researchers in locating the most noteworthy research projects and scientific endeavors using descriptive analysis, performance analysis, network mapping, or scientific mapping, several variables were considered to identify the top publications, journals, authors, and nations.

 

Table 1. Search and Selection Strategy.

Note: The methodical procedure followed to obtain the final set of (227) articles for bibliometric analysis is shown in the table.

 

Literature Review

Prominent organizations are progressively beginning to depend more on ecologically sustainable practices and less on environmentally exploitative ones (Schot & Fischer, 1993). In the last two decades, the need for responsible disposal management has been widely acknowledged (González-Benito & González-Benito, 2006). Nations contribute to the introduction of proactive environmental management and teach ways to prevent or lessen environmental degradation (Jackson et al., 2011). When the new millennium emerged, the manufacturing and service sectors accounted for most of the discourse surrounding environmental management. However, today’s environmental management issues encompass all industries, including species extinction, depletion of renewable energies, climate change, and pollution. One of the earliest academic contributions was the book Greening People: Human Resources and Environmental Management, edited by Wehr Meyer in 1996. The book contains essays authored by professionals and scholars across various nations, in addition to case studies which look at the relationships between environmental management and HRM (Timming et al., 2021).

The term “green human resource management” (GHRM) is a strategic approach that incorporates environmental considerations into HRM methods, procedures, and policies. According to Chaudhary (2020), GHRM is essential to promoting environmental sustainability in organizations because it incorporates environmental concerns into HR practices. It was emphasized by Ren et al. (2018), that GHRM integrates sustainable procedures and standards across the whole employment lifetime to improve the sustainability of an organization and reduce its environmental impact. To draw applicants with a green attitude, it also incorporates sustainability criteria into the recruiting and selection process (Adjei-Bamfo et al., 2020; Dumont et al., 2017). In a similar vein, Renwick et al. (2013) found that staff members’ environmental knowledge and awareness are raised through training and development programs so they can help with environmentally friendly company operations. GHRM is essential to promote the participation of employees and ecological consciousness. According to Gunasekaran et al. (2014), this engagement increases worker productivity, motivation, and satisfaction, all of which have a good impact on the environment. By encouraging environmentally friendly behavior, companies can become green and assist staff in gaining a general understanding of the importance of sustainability (Kim et al., 2019).

It is feasible to create a workplace where sustainability initiatives are appreciated and may be integrated into every day activities by implementing GHRM strategies, such as marketing efforts, green award programs for employees, and sustainable events at work (Brammer et al., 2012). According to Bombiak and Marciniuk-Kluska (2018), by aligning HR procedures with CSR, GHRM integrates the sustainability of the environment into the culture of an organization. Organizations can demonstrate their commitment to sustainability by implementing human resource strategies that facilitate eco-friendly transportation, promote work-life balance, or provide workers with opportunities to participate in local environmental initiatives (Muster & Schrader, 2011). Green HRM integrates compliance requirements into HR policies and practices to assist organizations in navigating complex environmental rules. Doing this guarantees that employees understand their responsibilities concerning the environment.

Method

The initial stage in acquiring the required data, including citation count, references, authors, and countries, is bibliometric analysis (Carvalho et al., 2017). Nonetheless, Scopus and WoS remain the primary sources. A descriptive survey of all articles up to February 2024, was the initial step. The search protocol followed for Scopus and WOS is given in Table 1. Three hundred sixty-nine publications from Scopus and 254 publications from WOS were shown by the search results which included articles, reviews, book chapters, proceeding papers, and conference papers. Moreover, only papers published in the English language were included. The resulting publications extracted from both the databases after applying these filters were run on R studio. Following the removal of duplicate documents, we were left with a final collection of 227 manuscripts. Biblioshiny was used to visualize the literature maps.

Results

Yearly Publication and Citation Trends

The progression of the annual publication counts between 2010 and 2024 is illustrated in Figure 1. The GHRM and sustainability field has had tremendous growth since 2017, as evidenced by the Yearly Publication of Articles in Figure 1. The majority of papers published in a single year was 63 in 2023, out of all the published articles. The yearly citation trend is displayed in Table 2, where it is evident that papers published in 2017 earned the greatest amount of citations. Despite the maximum number of articles being published in 2023, as of now, it has not gained the maximum amount of citations. The current business climate may be forcing organizations to refocus their attention on environmental sustainability, which could account for the sharp rise in GHRM and sustainability publications. The management and staff must commit to this move towards sustainability. Academics and politicians believe that encouraging human behavior and environmentally friendly acts can help minimize the negative influence that people have on their surroundings (Dornhoff et al., 2019). Consequently, the advent of the scientific community demonstrated a greater interest in encouraging environmentally friendly practices like GHRM.

Journal Publication Trends

To demonstrate the significance of journals, Table 3 displays the 10 most pertinent journals based on H-index ranking. On the ranking list, the “Journal of Cleaner Production” leads other journals, which focus on the integration of environmental management with the management of human resources and is an interdisciplinary publication. Additionally, it focuses on research methods related to sustainability, cleaner production, as well as the surroundings. The second journal is the “International Journal of Human Resource Management” with a major contribution.

 

Figure 1. Yearly Publication of Articles.

 

Table 2. Publication and Citation Trends.

 

Table 3. Journal Publications.

Note: Top 10 journals.

 

“Benchmarking, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental, International Journal of Human Resource Management,” and others are significant periodicals. Despite having high TC and contributing to GHRM and sustainability publications, due to their low H-index, journals like the “Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resource” do not appear in Table 3. In the year 2015, the important publication appeared in the “Journal of Cleaner Production.” The amazing thing is that since the “Journal of Cleaner Production” started publishing in 2011, the number of articles published each year has increased.

The Most Productive Authors

The datasets for the 10 most important publications written by each author are shown in Table 4. This table shows the overall citations that the article has obtained from the Scopus and WoS records, as well as the average citation count for the article each year. The most well-known publication, “Green Human Resource Management and Green Supply Chain Management Linking Two Emerging Agendas,” which was featured in the “Journal of Cleaner Production” in Jabbour and de Sousa Jabbour (2016), has earned the greatest citations. Renwick et al. (2011) wrote the frequently cited paper, which is solely devoted to GHRM.

The top 10 authors over the previous 10 years are shown in Figure 2. The total number of publications an author publishes in a certain period is used to quantify productivity. However, impact is calculated as the total number of citations received. The size of the circle represents the number of articles the author wrote in that specific year. The darkness of the circle represents the number of citations that are received each year. In 2010, Jackson and Seo were the first authors to contribute to this field of research. Among the authors who helped majorly are D. Renwick, C. Jabbour, and M. Yuslza. With the largest citation count, Jabbour C. is the author who has contributed the most to the fields of environmental concerns and green human resources. From 2011 to now, Jabbour and Renwick have been regular contributors (Rodríguez-Solar et al., 2020).

Country Production Over Time

GHRM and sustainability as a field have grown exponentially. Two hundred twenty-seven papers from 46 countries have been added to the dataset since 2002. Only 22 articles were single-author publications out of 227 articles because the search area is rather fuzzy and the authors would rather work together. International partnerships and multi-author publications are displayed in Table 5. The Single Country Publication (SCP), Multiple Country Publication (MCP), and MCP Ratio are displayed in the table. The term “MCP” denotes the publications by authors from different countries whereas “SCP” denotes the publications from the same nation authors. The MCP Ratio’s proportional value indicates the degree to wherein each country contributes to worldwide collaboration. Given that 46 countries contributed shows how popular the subject of GHRM is.

 

Table 4. Citation Analysis for the 10 Most Pertinent Articles in the Dataset, Ranked by Total Citations.

Note: Top 10 authors.

 

Figure 2. Authors’ Production Over Time.

 

Table 6 displays the top contributing nation results. The production of various countries in this field has also grown over time. This is because environmental concerns are given substantial attention by scholars and policymakers throughout countries due to the constantly expanding environmental threats. There is a shift in the countries’ rankings when compared to Table 6. Table 5 shows India as the top country, followed by China, Pakistan, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom in that order. Considering this, we may say that developing nations have made a noteworthy contribution to sustainability and green HRM when compared to developed nations. China held the top spot when it came to the total number of citations, followed by Pakistan, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and India.

Three-field Plots

A three-field plot is displayed in Figure 3, and the distribution of authors, keywords, and countries is represented. Amid the GHRM processes of change, the nodes show the author’s contribution as well as the varied efforts made by the top 10 countries. The width of nodes and edges provides quantitative flow information. The relationship between countries’ contributions, authors and keywords to the study domain is displayed. The data demonstrates that Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, the USA, and Australia have carried out the most studies. The figure indicates that Malaysia has worked or partnered with several authors, Renwick, who has contributed the most, works with other writers and nations to expand the GHRM and sustainability with new subjects. India appears seventeen times in the present investigation and makes use of every keyword associated with GHRM and sustainability. “Green human resource management” is the most popular and fascinating keyword, according to research from all writers and nations. Among the top 10 most frequent keywords, “green human resource management” is the most often used term (46), according to the three-field plot. Some of the other most often used keywords are sustainability (39), green HRM (18), environment sustainability (13), environment management (13), GHRM (9), environment (7), environmental performance (7), CSR (6), and sustainable development (5).

 

Table 5. Country Contribution.

Note: Top 10 countries.

 

Table 6. Most Cited Countries.

Note: Top 10 countries.

 

Figure 3. Three-field Plot.

 

Figure 4. Co-occurrence: Author Keywords Analysis.

 

Most Relevant Keywords

With the help of the most relevant keywords, researchers can find co-occurrences in the linkages between similar words found in each collection between those words. Consequently, the most used keywords were related to one another. The results are displayed using Biblioshiny in Figure 4. Green human resource practices, harmonious environmental passion and organizational citizenship behavior for the environment are the attributes that are symbolized by Custer 1 in red. The components in Cluster 2 are GHRM, sustainability, environmental performance, environmental sustainability, environmental management, GHRM, CSR, sustainable development, green human resources management, human resource management, Pakistan, GHRM practices, green innovation, HRM, competitive advantage, green transformational leadership, Malaysia, sustainable human resource management, top management commitment, bibliometric analysis, employee engagement, green behavior, green behaviors, green human capital, green intellectual capital, green recruitment and selection and manufacturing firms represent the organizational theme in blue. Having two keywords, green human resource and management, Cluster 3 embodies the concept of GHRM in light green. The two keywords in Cluster 4, sustainable performance and green supply chain management are in purple. The orange-colored Cluster 5 green HRM, green creativity, sustainable HRM and individual green values. Cluster 6 in brown color includes environment, green and human resources. Green HRM practices and pro-environmental behavior make up Cluster 7 in pink color. Cluster 8 comprises two keywords, AMO theory and employee green behavior represented by gray color. GHRM represents Cluster 9, green human resources Cluster 10 and green practices are presented by Cluster 11. The more research that is done on a keyword, the larger its bubble. Every cluster is distinguished by a unique color.

The research looked at the most popular themes over the years. The environment as a topic has been trending the most since 2016. GHRM, sustainability and green HRM came into trend in the year 2020 and the frequency has been growing. Many topics, such as sustainable performance, green HRM practices, GHRM practices, green human resources management, GHRM, human resource management and environmental management dominated the period between 2016 and 2023, as Figure 5 illustrates.

World Collaboration Network

The research plan for GHRM and sustainability should incorporate empirical studies from both developed and developing countries, as well as from a range of geographic locations. The participation of various authors and nationalities demonstrates the social structure. Co-authorship demonstrates important cross-border partnerships in addition to a country’s total publication output. Furthermore, the World Collaboration Map shows that developing and emerging nations continue to have low levels of academic participation as given in Figure 6. Green HRM and sustainability remain a topic of great importance that requires more investigation by encouraging green movement, green progress, and involvement from stakeholders. In this sense, academic research is dominated by China, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, which also work with most other nations, particularly developing nations that promote sustainability and the environment. Researchers in China, Australia, India, the United States, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain are closely connected. The statistics indicate that the United Kingdom (working with 12 other nations) is at the top, followed by Australia, China, The United States of America, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, France, and Spain.

 

Figure 5. Trend Topics.

 

Figure 6. World Collaboration Map.

 

Conclusions

Over the past few decades, GHRM and sustainability have been explored separately. Scholars have recently become increasingly focused on how crucial GHRM practices are to advancing sustainability. Over the last 10 years, several studies have determined that GHRM practices are essential to sustainability. The significance of GHRM and sustainability as a developing topic nowadays is highlighted by this study. GHRM aims to address ecological and environmental challenges from an organizational perspective, as well as to be involved in the creation of greener societal social routes. This HRM specialization addresses one of the most significant problems that humanity has ever encountered. In an increasingly diverse corporate landscape, many organizations are choosing new initiatives like GHRM practices in search of issues to balance sustainability and economic objectives.

Implications

Environmental activists, administrations, corporations, scholars, entrepreneurs, and financial services industry specialists will be able to comprehend the emerging issues with this study. The study’s findings will stimulate further research by different groups of academics, decision-makers, and practitioners in the areas of different disciplines about lowering the carbon footprint of the environment. Organizations can use this report as a reference to create complete green HRM policies that support their sustainability objectives. According to the study, the authors support promoting environmental responsibility among employees. These tactics foster employee engagement and a sense of accountability for sustainability goals. The report offers a forward-looking viewpoint on the significance of fostering a sustainable culture within businesses. To put it briefly, this report summarizes the advancements made in this field of study.

Limitations and Future Research

Notwithstanding its significance, there are several shortcomings to the study. First, Scopus and WoS databases were used to gather the data. Findings cannot be generalized because additional sources were disregarded. Second, since papers not written in English were excluded from the study, which solely examined GHRM and sustainability literature produced in English, the findings might not be reliable. In summary, this research represents a bibliometric assessment of the GHRM and sustainability field, with empirical work serving as the foundation for the recommended future directions. To investigate the strategic procedures that companies use to create and carry out Green HRM (GHRM) projects, qualitative research is required. Scholars can opt to conduct a meta-analysis and a systematic literature review in the future. While empirical studies (Millar et al., 2016) highlight the significance of GHRM in accomplishing sustainability goals, more research into the particular frameworks and techniques employed by organizations would be beneficial for the advancement of the discipline.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.