Green HRM Practices and Human Resource Creativity: Case Study

Introduction

In recent years, environmental protection issues have emerged as one of the most important issues in the world, as preserving the natural ecosystem is an important concern for future generations and a key priority on the agenda of managers and decision-makers (Vogel, 2011). This issue has resulted in increased pressure on organizations, motivating them to prepare, develop, and apply green management approaches based on environmentally friendly practices and procedures (Sarkis, Gonzalez-Torre, & Adenso-Diaz, 2010). The urgent need for green human resource practices has emerged in response to the initiatives of international business organizations that care for the environment and its resources, driven by the expansion of business worldwide and the negative effects of industry on the environment (Butzer, 2012). Nevertheless, the issue of achieving sustainability through green management remains a focus of discussion among management scholars, which provides the opportunity for further research into how organizations can practice green management in a competitive manner — a practice that requires a high level of technical and administrative skills among employees to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (Matthews & Shulman, 2005).

Although many studies have addressed green human resource management, barriers to its effective implementation persist. The global interest in this concept has increased organizational awareness of the importance of environmental issues, compelling organizations to adopt environmentally friendly practices (Gadenne, Kennedy, & McKeiver, 2009). Such practices, represented through the management of green human resources, have resulted in increased efficiency (Masri & Jaaron, 2017), reduced costs (Sheikh, Islam, & Rahman, 2019), attracted green competencies (Amrutha & Geetha, 2020), and improved productivity (Astuti & Wahyuni, 2020). Likewise, private Saudi companies can gain a competitive advantage by maintaining a highly responsible green human resources department, especially given the intense competition that characterizes many industries. The green responsibility of Saudi companies, viewed through the human resources lens, is reflected in its impact on employee retention (Likhitkar & Verma, 2017), creating a sense of purpose for employees (Babiak & Trendafilova, 2011), and increasing their environmental awareness (Saeed et al., 2019).

This context motivated the researcher to study green human resource practices and their application to Saudi companies, particularly in the field of education, since educational organizations are directly linked with environmental awareness and are highly capable of influencing their surroundings. The study questions consisted of a basic overarching question, from which the following sub-questions were derived:

1) What is the effect of green human resource management practices in the green training axis on the creativity of human resources at the university?

a. What is the level of human resource management practices in the green training axis at the university?

b. What is the creativity level of human resources at the university?

Green Human Resource Management Practices

The study presents both the practical and theoretical concept of green human resource management practices as a means of achieving environmental friendliness. It is considered a new scientific contribution to the body of research in this field and opens new horizons for researchers. The study sheds light on green human resource management practices at the university, representing the first study of its kind at that institution. It also works to clarify the importance of green management for human resources and provides decision-makers with scientific findings and recommendations for developing and improving the work of human resources in a manner that preserves the environment. Most studies related to green HRM practices have focused on Western and non-Arab foreign environments. This study was applied to an Arab environment — specifically Saudi Arabia — where the researcher selected one of the major private-sector companies, which seeks to implement green human resource management practices.

Based on the study's research questions and considering its objectives, the following hypothesis was formulated: There is no statistically significant effect of green training on the creativity of human resources at the university.

The increasing organizational interest in environmental issues has made the concept of green orientation a focal point, leading organizations to pursue many green initiatives (Victor, 2001) such as green management (McDonagh & Prothero, 1997), green marketing (Peattie, 1992), and green supply chain management (Khan, 2018). Among these initiatives, green human resource management (GHRM) has gained increasing attention, as the move toward green practices in any organization requires human resource support (Tang, Chen, Jiang, Paillé, & Jia, 2017). Many organizations now practice GHRM in the global context, where green HR practices greatly contribute to the performance of human resource management at both the scientific and practical levels (Arulrajah, Opatha, & Nawaratne, 2015). Some organizations also adopt green orientation as a strategy embedded within their social responsibility initiatives to achieve competitive advantage and build their own brand (Freitas, Caldeira-Oliveira, Teixeira, Stefanelli, & Borges, 2020).

The Green Human Resources Department is responsible for finding a balance between work and the environment and for preserving green employees. Organizations have become increasingly aware of the behavior of green employees, who are difficult to find and retain (Sakhawalkar & Thadani, 2015). Green human resource management plays a vital role in environmental management and in achieving the sustainability of its workforce, as the application of innovative technology and the search for alternative energy sources help to limit the use of finite natural resources and reduce environmental degradation (Hosain & Rahman, 2016). Therefore, organizations must intensify efforts to find technologies that reduce environmental destruction, including the development of non-toxic products that do not harm the environment.

Green human resources consist of two basic elements: (1) environmentally friendly human resource management practices and (2) attracting and retaining human capital. Human resources and their systems are the foundational pillar of any business, whether financial or sustainable, and these two elements are responsible for planning and implementing environmentally friendly policies (Ahmad, 2015).

The concept of GHRM is one of the modern concepts of management thinking, linking human resource management activities with environmental management. The term is often used to refer to the contribution of HRM policies and practices to the environmental agenda of organizations in protecting and preserving natural resources (Aykan, 2017). According to Opatha & Arulrajah (2014), the Green Human Resources Department encompasses the activities, policies, practices, and systems that include the development, implementation, and continuous maintenance of systems aimed at creating a green organization and transforming regular employees into employees who adopt the green approach to achieve the organization's environmental goals. The term also represents HR activities and practices that promote positive environmental outcomes by spreading the culture of environmental sustainability and obligating employees to it (Shen, Dumont, & Deng, 2016). Despite the diversity of definitions for GHRM, all perspectives agree that green human resource management must be characterized by a green approach that leads to the environmental sustainability of organizations and ensures their survival and continuity.

Understanding GHRM begins from the moment an employee enters the organization until the point of exit. It is necessary to observe green activities such as teleconferences, virtual interviews, flexible work arrangements, online training, recycling, and minimization of paper printing to reduce carbon footprints (Bangwal & Tiwari, 2015). GHRM plays an important role in environmentally friendly activities by involving individuals as part of green initiatives to change existing processes. Knowledge management practices, employee participation, recruitment, selection, training, diversity promotion, and leadership are all integrated to improve the organization's environmental performance (Mishra, Sarkar, & Janaswamy, 2014). GHRM practices play a vital role in enhancing employee morale, which may generate significant benefits for both the organization and its employees (Cherian & Jacob, 2012).

Although it may be initially difficult to implement green human resource management practices, they can help achieve core organizational goals such as cost control, social responsibility, talent acquisition, and competitive advantage through environmental awareness and moral values (Hosain & Rahman, 2016). Despite the many benefits of green HR practices for organizations and society, they also face significant challenges. Recruiting and training employees for green practices may encounter resistance from employees who are unwilling to accept new practices and who adhere to traditional HR methods (Obaid & Alias, 2015). Implementing green HR practices also requires high investment and may initially yield low returns (Li et al., 2021). One of the most important challenges HR departments face is creating a green work structure alongside preparing green operations, providing green tools, and cultivating green thinking among employees (Islam, Hunt, Jantan, & Hashim, 2019). It should be noted that GHRM is still in its early stages, with many studies remaining within a theoretical framework and still requiring more applied research (Jabbour & Santos, 2008).

Human Resources Creativity

The current era is characterized by rapid changes and an explosion of knowledge and technology, which has created many challenges for contemporary organizations (Benamati & Lederer, 2000). Solving these challenges requires the use of new creative methods and the abandonment of traditional approaches (Jackson, 1991). This can only be accomplished with the presence of creative individuals who have the appropriate means to help them find quick management solutions and new methods (Awad, 2013). Failure to adopt a creative approach causes the organization to continue performing its work in the same manner as in the past, resulting in stagnation that ultimately weakens the organization's role (Nabulsi, 2014).

Human resources creativity is defined as the adoption of a new idea or behavior by an employee within the field of the organization's industry and environment (Gupta & Singhal, 1993). In the same context, Sapon & Balal (2017) defined creativity as a new idea that is applied and aims to develop products, services, and processes, with impacts on organizations ranging from slight performance improvements to substantial changes affecting overall performance. Mirag (2015) defined it as mental capabilities that appear at the level of the individual, group, or organization. These creative abilities can be developed according to the capacities of individuals, groups, and organizations, and they result in new ideas or new work characterized by fluency, originality, sensitivity to problems, and the ability to form new engagements, discoveries, and relationships.

Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, & Herron (1996) identified three different approaches to designing creativity in the organization. The first focused on "technical innovation," which involves understanding design situations and tools, either quantitatively or through information technology to support decision-making. The second focuses on "social innovation," which describes how to construct social models, revealing the artistic aspects of creativity and indicating the range of cases in which analysts should apply social creativity. The third is called "socio-technical" innovation, which brings the two previous approaches together. Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn (2001) similarly identified two approaches to generating creativity: the "product" approach, which focuses on improving services or commodities to better meet customer needs and aspirations, and the "process" approach, which focuses on improving current work processes in a more efficient and capable manner to achieve organizational goals.

Indicators of creative behavior among employees include curiosity, cognitive flexibility, risk-taking, learning, and the determination to face challenges and obstacles (Radi, 2010). According to Ahmad (2018), researchers have identified the following elements of human resource creativity: sensitivity to problems, intellectual fluency, flexibility, originality, continuity of direction, risk tolerance, imaginative thinking, and the ability to evaluate. For an organization's approach to human resource creativity to be effective, a number of basic conditions should be considered: allowing any idea to grow, respecting individuals, moving away from routine, making work enjoyable, continuously renewing one's approach, observing others' experiences, not abandoning ideas that have not yet been implemented, and translating what individuals have learned into practice (Bdesi, Washelly, & Rizqallah, 2011). According to Chiu & Kwan (2010), creativity is a human phenomenon, and for the process of human resource creativity to succeed and reach the stage of application and spread, it must pass through a set of stages: (1) authoring new ideas, (2) selecting, editing, and marketing new ideas, and (3) acceptance of the new ideas in the market.

The organizational structure affects employees' ability to participate and be creative. Rigid, centralized, and inflexible organizational structures prevent employees from establishing relationships outside their prescribed frameworks, making them less enthusiastic about creativity, since decision-making authority rests with the highest levels of management. By contrast, flexible organizational structures allow employees to be creative (Kent, 2017). Leadership that embraces flexible, democratic practices is among the most stimulating patterns for creativity, since when employees participate in decision-making they feel greater commitment to change and innovation. Autocratic leadership, by contrast, tends to view change as a threat that creates chaos and disrupts the order upon which the organization is based (Tierney, Farmer, & Graen, 2006). Training is considered an important factor in achieving creativity among employees, as it fosters a spirit of cooperation between individuals, develops team cohesion, focuses attention on others' contributions, and helps identify individuals with high creative abilities that can be deployed in service of organizational goals (Sarri, Bakouros, & Petridou, 2010). To preserve and develop creativity, the organization must provide an appropriate climate through material and moral stimulation, making the organization an incubator for generating and adopting new ideas (Hon & Lu, 2015).

The researcher consulted references addressing the study's subject matter to prepare the theoretical framework. To verify the relationship between green human resource management practices and human resource creativity, the researcher developed a questionnaire comprising several items. The university company was selected because of its particular role in fostering environmental awareness through its professionally trained cadres, who are equipped to address problems through a green administrative approach.

Conclusion

The current study aimed to determine the effect of green human resource management practices in the green training axis on human resource creativity at the university company. The company demonstrated an average level of engagement with GHRM, manifested through green training and development. Through training and development, the company can increase employee awareness of the organization's environmental policy and promote behavioral change toward more environmentally conscious engagement. The level of human resource creativity at the university company was found to be high from a general perspective, and this creativity has a strong relationship with the green human resource practices the company pursues. GHRM practices contribute to stimulating human resource creativity and to promoting, developing, and maintaining sustainable practices and environmental elements that create awareness for organizations to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner.