The implementation of green human resource management bundles across firms in pursuit of environmental sustainability goals

Abstract This paper aims to examine the green human resource management (GHRM) bundles successfully implemented by firms across industries in response to the national institutional and cultural contexts toward the pursuit of environmental sustainability goals. Based on a cross‐case analysis of five firms across industries in Thailand, the empirical evidence draws on semistructured interviews with various stakeholders, field visits, and a review of archival documents and web‐based reports and resources. This paper proposes that GHRM bundles successfully implemented by firms in response to the institutional and cultural contexts include the following: green recruitment and selection in terms of green employer branding; green training in terms of awareness enhancement, on‐the‐job training, job shadowing, coaching, mentoring, and workplace climate building; green pay and rewards in terms of financial and nonfinancial rewards; and green employee relations in terms of a paternalistic leadership style and workplace climate. Specifically, firms develop green employer branding and implement the practices of awareness enhancement, on‐the‐job training, job shadowing, coaching, mentoring, and workplace climate building in response to deficiencies in the national education and skill formation system in terms of skill shortages. Additionally, firms offer both financial and nonfinancial rewards and create a paternalistic leadership style and workplace climate in response to a cultural context that favors in‐group collectivism, conflict avoidance, and passivity among workers within the workplace.