Green Human Resource Management as a Professional Development System and Its Impact on Green Innovation: The Mediating Role of Organizational Health

Authors

  • Abdulrahman Haidar Ali Al-Qudah Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia Author
  • Morad Zaqgeba Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia Author
  • Nur Qamarina Sharom Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia Author
  • Sumaiyah Abd. Aziz Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70568/IJPHDI.2.1.5

Keywords:

Green Human Resource Management, Green Training and Development, Organizational Health, Professional Human Development, Green Innovation, PLS-SEM

Abstract

The current study aims to examine the impact of the green human resource management (GHRM) practices, which are viewed in this study as a professional development system for the employees, on the green innovation, and to test the mediating role of the organizational health in the Jordanian Free and Development Zones Group. The study adopted the descriptive analytical approach, and a questionnaire was distributed to the employees of the Group in its free and development zones by using the comprehensive survey method on a population of (320) employees, where 287 valid responses were analyzed by using SPSS version 29 and SmartPLS 4 through the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that the GHRM practices have a positive and significant effect on the organizational health (β = 0.787, p < 0.001), and the organizational health has a positive and significant effect on the green innovation (β = 0.705, p < 0.001). Moreover, the indirect effect of the GHRM practices on the green innovation through the organizational health was positive and significant (β = 0.555, p < 0.001). The model explained 62.0% of the variance in the organizational health and 49.7% of the variance in the green innovation, and it showed a good predictive relevance. The study is among the few studies that consider the organizational health as a human development mechanism that transfers the effect of the GHRM practices to the green innovation, and it tests this mechanism inside a public economic organization. Accordingly, the study offers implications for the human resource development, the workplace learning and the professional development of the employees in the public sector.

References

Ababneh, O. M. A. (2021). How do green HRM practices affect employees' green behaviors? The role of employee engagement and personality attributes. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 64(7), 1204–1226. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2020.1814708

Abouelenien, R. E. I. (2024). Green HRM and green competitive advantage in hotel and tourism industry: A mediated moderation model using eco-innovation and green psychological climate. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 52. https://doi.org/10.30892/gtg.52130-1207

Adel, H., & Attia, T. M. (2023). The effect of the environmental dimension of social responsibility on achieving competitive advantage: A field study [in Arabic]. Journal of Financial and Commercial Research, 24(1), 47–77.

Al Katheeri, F. M. S., Mdarbi, S., & Simour, L. (2025). The impact of transformation leadership on the effectiveness of decision-making in processes in ADNOC. International Journal of Pedagogy and Professional Human Development Insights, 1(2). http://doi.org/10.70568/IJPHDI.1.2.5

Al Mansoori, M. E. M., & Hafssa, Y. (2025). The impact of strategic flexibility and risk management on improving management and competitive advantage in the UAE energy sector as a model. International Journal of Pedagogy and Professional Human Development Insights, 1(2). http://doi.org/10.70568/IJPHDI.1.2.4

Al-Ashqar, A. S. M. (2022). The impact of organizational health on employees' performance: The mediating role of organizational commitment in mining companies in Jordan [Unpublished master's thesis, in Arabic]. The World Islamic Sciences and Education University.

Al-Hamouri, E., Siyaj, I., Al-Sharabati, & Zein, O. (2017). Green human resource management practices in Palestinian universities in the south of the West Bank [in Arabic].

Alqudah, D. M. (2025). Graduate students experiences in the Department of Special Education in employing artificial intelligence to improve the quality of their education. International Journal of Pedagogy and Professional Human Development Insights, 1(2). http://doi.org/10.70568/IJPHDI.1.2.3

Al-Sarayreh, R. A. (2013). The impact of applying organizational health on the quality of government services: A field study on the health directorates in the central region of Jordan [Unpublished master's thesis, in Arabic]. Mutah University.

Al-Sawi, M., & Al-Dabbagh, T. (2021). The role of green human resource management practices in enhancing social responsibility in the government services sector in the Emirate of Ajman [in Arabic]. Arab Journal of Administration, 41(2), 73–94.

Alsharah, A. (2024). The role of green human resources management in promoting sustainable development in the Jordanian service companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research, 35(1), 88–100.

Amrutha, V. N., & Geetha, S. N. (2020). A systematic review on green human resource management: Implications for social sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 247, 119131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119131

Appelbaum, E., Bailey, T., Berg, P., & Kalleberg, A. L. (2000). Manufacturing advantage: Why high-performance work systems pay off. Cornell University Press.

Awwad Al-Shammari, A. S., Alshammrei, S., Nawaz, N., & Tayyab, M. (2022). Green human resource management and sustainable performance with the mediating role of green innovation: A perspective of new technological era. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10, 901235.

Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120.

Becker, G. S. (1964). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. National Bureau of Economic Research.

Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. Wiley.

Camp, A., Gast, A., Goldstein, D., & Weddle, B. (2024, February 12). Organizational health is (still) the key to long-term performance. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/organizational-health-is-still-the-key-to-long-term-performance

Chen, Y.-S., Lai, S.-B., & Wen, C.-T. (2006). The influence of green innovation performance on corporate advantage in Taiwan. Journal of Business Ethics, 67(4), 331–339.

Din, A. U., Yang, Y., Yan, R., Wei, A., & Ali, M. (2024). Growing success with sustainability: The influence of green HRM, innovation, and competitive advantage on environmental performance in the manufacturing industry. Heliyon, 10(10), e30855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30855

Dumont, J., Shen, J., & Deng, X. (2017). Effects of green HRM practices on employee workplace green behavior: The role of psychological green climate and employee green values. Human Resource Management, 56(4), 613–627.

Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 500–507.

Faheem, A., Nawaz, Z., Ahmed, M., Haddad, H., & Al-Ramahi, N. M. (2024). Past trends and future directions in green human resource management and green innovation: A bibliometric analysis. Sustainability, 16(1), 133. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16010133

Fang, L., Shi, S., Gao, J., & Li, X. (2022). The mediating role of green innovation and green culture in the relationship between green human resource management and environmental performance. PLOS ONE, 17(9), e0274820. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274820

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.

Gharbi, H., Sobaih, A. E. E., Aliane, N., & Almubarak, A. (2022). The role of innovation capacities in the relationship between green human resource management and competitive advantage in the Saudi food industry: Does gender of entrepreneurs really matter? Agriculture, 12(6), 857.

Government of Jordan. (2022). Economic Modernisation Vision 2022–2033. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Guo, Y., Wang, S., & Yang, Q. (2025). Green human resource management: Synthesising outcomes and identifying effective practices. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 63(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7941.70033

Gyensare, M. A., Adomako, S., & Amankwah-Amoah, J. (2024). Green HRM practices, employee well-being, and sustainable work behavior: Examining the moderating role of resource commitment. Business Strategy and the Environment, 33(4), 3129–3141. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3642

Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). Sage.

Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24.

Hart, S. L. (1995). A natural-resource-based view of the firm. Academy of Management Review, 20(4), 986–1014.

Hazaimeh, Z. D. K. (2025). The degree of vocational education teachers' utilization of digital skills from their perspective in Qasabat Irbid. International Journal of Pedagogy and Professional Human Development Insights, 1(2). http://doi.org/10.70568/IJPHDI.1.2.2

Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135.

Hoy, W. K., & Feldman, J. A. (1987). Organizational health: The concept and its measure. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 20(4), 30–37.

Jackson, S. E., Renwick, D. W. S., Jabbour, C. J. C., & Muller-Camen, M. (2011). State-of-the-art and future directions for green human resource management. Zeitschrift für Personalforschung, 25(2), 99–116.

Jamai, O. K. (2023). The effect of management ethics on achieving competitive advantage: A field study of Mobilis Telecommunications [in Arabic]. Dafater Al-Buhuth Al-Ilmiyya, 10(2), 164–183.

Kaluza, A. J., Schuh, S. C., Kern, M., Xin, K., & van Dick, R. (2020). How do leaders' perceptions of organizational health climate shape employee exhaustion and engagement? Toward a cascading-effects model. Human Resource Management, 59(4), 359–377.

Kanan, M., Taha, B., Saleh, Y., Alsayed, M., Assaf, R., Ben Hassen, M., Alshaibani, E., Bakir, A., & Tunsi, W. (2023). Green innovation as a mediator between green human resource management practices and sustainable performance in Palestinian manufacturing industries. Sustainability, 15(2), 1077. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021077

Khalaf, H. A. (2020). The impact of organizational health on organizational effectiveness approaches: A field study in the private university colleges in Baghdad and Wasit, Iraq [Unpublished master's thesis, in Arabic]. Middle East University.

Khazaal, B. K., & Diab, A. R. (2019a). Green innovation and its impact on enhancing sustainable competitive advantage: An exploratory study of a sample of employees in Al-Kronji companies in Kirkuk [in Arabic]. Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 25(112), 133–148.

Kim, Y. J., Kim, W. G., Choi, H.-M., & Phetvaroon, K. (2019). The effect of green human resource management on hotel employees' eco-friendly behavior and environmental performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76, 83–93.

Kock, N. (2015). Common method bias in PLS-SEM: A full collinearity assessment approach. International Journal of e-Collaboration, 11(4), 1–10.

Kuo, Y. K., Khan, T. I., Islam, S. U., Abdullah, F. Z., Pradana, M., & Kaewsaeng-On, R. (2022). Impact of green HRM practices on environmental performance: The mediating role of green innovation. Frontiers in Psychology, 13.

Mamun, M. (2026). Green HRM and green innovation: Do environmental strategies and green culture matter? Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 12, 100897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2025.100897

Miles, M. B. (1969). Planned change and organizational health: Figure and ground. In F. D. Carver & T. J. Sergiovanni (Eds.), Organizations and human behavior (pp. 375–391). McGraw-Hill.

Muisyo, P. K., Qin, S., & Ho, T. H. (2021). The role of green HRM in driving a firm's green competitive advantage: The mediating role of green organizational identity. SN Business & Economics, 1(11), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-021-00154-6

Muisyo, P., Su, Q., Ho, T. H., Julius, M. M., & Usmani, M. S. (2022). Implications of green HRM on the firm's green competitive advantage: The mediating role of enablers of green culture. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 33(2), 308–333. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-01-2021-0033

Novitasari, M., & Agustia, D. (2023). Competitive advantage as a mediating effect in the impact of green innovation and firm performance. Business: Theory and Practice, 24(1), 216–226. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2023.15865

Nuryakin, N., & Maryati, T. (2022). Do green innovation and green competitive advantage mediate the effect of green marketing orientation on SMEs' green marketing performance? Cogent Business & Management, 9(1), 2065948.

Pinzone, M., Guerci, M., Lettieri, E., & Huisingh, D. (2019). Effects of 'green' training on pro-environmental behaviors and job satisfaction: Evidence from the Italian healthcare sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 226, 221–232.

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903.

Pokalai, N., Nawakitphaitoon, K., & Wei, W. (2026). Cognitive and affective pathways linking green human resource management to employee green behavior: Dual mediating roles of green innovation and job satisfaction. Business Strategy and the Environment. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71175

Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. Free Press.

Porter, M. E., & van der Linde, C. (1995). Toward a new conception of the environment-competitiveness relationship. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9(4), 97–118.

Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891.

Reece, A., Yaden, D., Kellerman, G., Robichaux, A., Goldstein, R., Schwartz, B., Seligman, M., & Baumeister, R. (2021). Mattering is an indicator of organizational health and employee success. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16(2), 228–248.

Ren, S., Tang, G., & Jackson, S. E. (2018). Green human resource management research in emergence: A review and future directions. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 35(3), 769–803.

Renwick, D. W. S., Redman, T., & Maguire, S. (2013). Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), 1–14.

Ringle, C. M., Wende, S., & Becker, J.-M. (2022). SmartPLS 4. SmartPLS GmbH. https://www.smartpls.com

Saeed, B. B., Afsar, B., Hafeez, S., Khan, I., Tahir, M., & Afridi, M. A. (2019). Promoting employee's proenvironmental behavior through green human resource management practices. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(2), 424–438.

Shafaei, A., & Nejati, M. (2024). Green human resource management and employee innovative behaviour: Does inclusive leadership play a role? Personnel Review, 53(1), 266–287. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-04-2021-0239

Shalaldeh, Y. M., & Ali, A. J. (2026). The effect of green HRM, green transformational leadership and green work engagement on green creativity in the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), Jordan. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 16(7), 1164–1183. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v16-i7/28681

Sharadgah, R. A. M., Al-Shaboul, T. A., & Hazaimeh, Z. D. (2025). The role of digital transformation on the performance of vocational education teachers in public schools in Irbid Governorate from their perspective. International Journal of Pedagogy and Professional Human Development Insights, 1(2). http://doi.org/10.70568/IJPHDI.1.2.1

Shboul, T. (2025). Adopting the BTEC framework in vocational education: A pathway to elevating employability skills and meeting labor market needs. International Journal of Pedagogy and Professional Human Development Insights, 1(1). http://doi.org/10.70568/IJPHDI.1.1.4

Shmueli, G., Sarstedt, M., Hair, J. F., Cheah, J.-H., Ting, H., Vaithilingam, S., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). Predictive model assessment in PLS-SEM: Guidelines for using PLSpredict. European Journal of Marketing, 53(11), 2322–2347.

Singh, S. K., Del Giudice, M., Chierici, R., & Graziano, D. (2020). Green innovation and environmental performance: The role of green transformational leadership and green human resource management. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 150, 119762.

Song, W., Yu, H., & Xu, H. (2021). Effects of green human resource management and managerial environmental concern on green innovation. European Journal of Innovation Management, 24(3), 951–967.

Tang, G., Chen, Y., Jiang, Y., Paillé, P., & Jia, J. (2018). Green human resource management practices: Scale development and validity. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 56(1), 31–55.

UNCTAD. (2019). World investment report 2019: Special economic zones. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Yong, J. Y., Yusliza, M.-Y., & Fawehinmi, O. O. (2020). Green human resource management: A systematic literature review from 2007 to 2019. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(7), 2005–2027.

Zahdeh, R. Y. S. (2021). Organizational health and its relationship with organizational citizenship behavior in private schools in the University of Jordan District from the teachers' perspective [Unpublished master's thesis, in Arabic]. Mutah University.

Zawawi, W. (2022). A study of the environmental factors affecting a sample of industrial enterprises in western Algeria [in Arabic]. Idafat Economic Journal, 6(1), 29–48.

Zhao, X., Lynch, J. G., & Chen, Q. (2010). Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and truths about mediation analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(2), 197–206.

Downloads

Published

2026-06-30

Issue

Section

Articles