Green human resource management practices in the hospitality sector

Abstract

Global warming has been becoming one of the main concerns of many governments and organizations, especially companies operating in sectors which cause negative influences on the environment and natural resources, such as manufacturing companies, exploitation companies, and hotels/resorts. Thus, many organizations have emphasized the development of strategies which highlight the green aspects of proactive environmental management. In the hospitality sector, besides marketing and accounting aspects, applying the environmental practices in human resource management has been seen as one of organizations' main objectives to reduce waste, save costs and enhance the staff's environmental awareness and green reputation. This paper provides literature about practices of green human resource management (GHRM), which is an integration of the literature of environmental management and human resource management. Also, it clarifies applications of these practices on luxury hotels. Previous studies related to Ability - Motivation - Opportunity (AMO) theory and environmental practices are emphasized to better explain GHRM as well as its roles in people-management practices, in organizations in general and hotels in particular. To appreciate the applications of GHRM practices in hotels, firstly, the paper summarizes green practices in organizations from articles published in good journals. Then, in order to identify GHRM practices in these hotels, the paper uses qualitative research with the case study method. Four cases are chosen, cases A, B, C, and D. Seven managers and eight employees working in four- and five-star hotels are connected, and the authors use a semi-structured interview for collecting data. However, this study only analyzes and discusses the data of case A. The findings of case A show that there are many environmental practices used in these hotels including developing green abilities (green training), motivating green employees (green performance management and appraisal, green pay and reward systems), and facilitating green opportunities (green employee involvement and green organizational culture). However, practices of just three important components of green training, green employee involvement and green organizational culture are stressed in order to sustainably develop hotel eco-culture.