Green HRM and Employee Green Activism: Roles of Meaningful Work and Harmonious Environmental Passion

In the present study, we aim to examine the direct and indirect (via meaningful work) relationships between green human resource management (GHRM) and employees’ beyond-work green activism. We also test the moderating role of harmonious environmental passion in the relationship between perceived GHRM and beyond-work green activism. Survey data were collected using a time-lagged design from 304 supervisor-employee dyads in different manufacturing and service sector organizations in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in Mplus (8.6). The results revealed that GHRM is positively associated with green activism, both directly and indirectly, via meaningful work. Moreover, harmonious environmental passion strengthens the direct relationship between GHRM and meaningful work, as well as the indirect relationships between GHRM and green activism. The findings offer important recommendations for managers concerned about environmental sustainability that can help them signify the role of business organizations and HR practices in protecting the natural environment. Several scholars have shown that GHRM is positively associated with employees’ voluntary green behaviors at work. However, previous studies have largely overlooked the influence of GHRM on employees’ voluntary green behaviors beyond the workplace such as employees’ participation in and promotion of different types of pro-environmental initiatives, policies, and campaigns outside the organizational boundaries. This study foregrounds an important yet largely ignored role of GHRM in shaping employees’ engagement in green initiatives beyond organizational boundaries.