Ways of being greenexploring alternative approaches to environmental sustainability

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is now one of the most important challenges for business and society. The academic literature has focused much attention on proposing solutions for organizations to reduce their environmental impact while improving their environmental performance. Despite many promising developments, organizational researchers have yet to advance knowledge by integrating different research areas. In this regard, cooperative approaches might shed light to such environmental problems. This doctoral dissertation aims to explore alternative approaches to environmental sustainability and to advance current knowledge about whether and how these approaches are effective to address environmental sustainability problems. Focusing on the role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in environmental management, chapter 2 review the literature on Green Human Resource Management (GHRM). This chapters develops a logic for implementing GHRM systems in a specific company, presents GHRM as a useful tool to implement environmental sustainability from a bottom-up approach and takes stock and classifies the different GHRM practices that have been addressed in previous literature. Thus, building on the Ability– Motivation–Opportunity theory, GHRM practices are grouped into the three dimensions of practices oriented toward improving employees’ green abilities, practices improving employees’ motivations to engage in environmental issues, and practices improving employees’ opportunities to contribute to environmental sustainability. Continuing with the study of GHRM practices, chapter 3 presents a theoretical framework that explains how organizations address environmental sustainability. Taking into account two types of organizational learning, exploration and exploitation, four alternatives approaches are proposed: environmental laggards, cooperative, entrepreneurial and ambidextrous approach. Moreover, highlighting the crucial role of GHRM in achieving environmental sustainability, we propose specific GHRM practices that reinforce the different archetypes and might contribute to economic and environmental benefits of each archetype. To continue advancing knowledge about environmental entrepreneurship, the fourth chapter proposes, develops and validates a measurement scale for Environmental Entrepreneurial Orientation (EEO). Exploratory factor analysis showed a structure of three dimensions, namely, environmental innovativeness, environmental proactiveness and risk-taking regarding environmental issues. Confirmatory factor analysis confirms the previous factor structure and the model fit indices corroborates the model fitness. To check the criterion validity out, the direct effect of EEO on environmental performance and environmental management practices was examined. The proposed measurement scale will help to sparkle empirical research on environmental entrepreneurship. In the last study of this doctoral dissertation, once EEO scale is validated in chapter 4, chapter 5 studies the outcomes of EEO. More specifically, using data obtained from a sample of 239 Spanish agri-food and ceramic firms, this study analyses the relationships among EEO, GHRM and Eco-innovation. We found empirical evidence that EEO and GHRM is positively associated to Eco-innovation. But also, our evidence shows that the relationship between EEO and Eco-innovation is mediated by GHRM. All in all, this doctoral dissertation contributes theoretical and empirical knowledge to the exploration of different strategies and the study of organizational actions aimed to address environmental sustainability. In this regard, this thesis is intended to underscore the paramount importance of the entrepreneurial action and the “human dimension” in the environmental management.