Does green human resource management foster green advocacy? A perspective of conservation of resources theory

Purpose With increasing pressure to achieve environmental sustainability, hotel organizations implement green human resource management (GHRM) to inspire employees’ green behavior to improve environmental performance. Following the conservation of resources theory, this research aims to examine how GHRM fosters employee green advocacy. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from 315 employees from 24 hotels in China. This study used the SPSS PROCESS to test the mediation and moderated mediation model. Findings The results showed that GHRM has a positive impact on green advocacy, and harmonious environmental passion (HEP) fully mediates the positive relationship between GHRM and green advocacy. Furthermore, the relationship between GHRM, HEP and green advocacy is moderated by environmentally specific transformational leadership (ESTL). Subsequently, the findings imply that the indirect effect of GHRM on green advocacy via HEP is stronger while ESTL is higher. Originality/value This study extends the research on GHRM and green advocacy by exploring how and when GHRM stimulates employee green advocacy via HEP in the Chinese context.