Impact of Green Human Resource Management and Green Supply Chain Management Practices on Sustainable Organizational Performance- A Case of China-Laos Railway
This study explores the synergistic effects of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) and Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) on the sustainability performance of large-scale infrastructure projects, with particular emphasis on the mediating role of Environmental and Social Responsibility Perception (ESRP). Through an empirical analysis of the "China-Laos Railway" (CLR), we examine how these organizational mechanisms contribute to environmental, social, and economic sustainability outcomes. Data were collected from 211 professionals at China's Ministry of Transport and Laos' Ministry of Public Works and Transport using a validated 7-point Likert scale questionnaire. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), our findings reveal three critical insights: (1) Both GHRM and GSCM demonstrate significant positive correlations with CLR's sustainability performance; (2) ESRP partially mediates the GHRM-sustainability relationship and the GSCMsustainability relationship; (3) GHRM shows a moderate direct effect, while GSCM exhibits the strongest direct impact on sustainability performance. This study provides actionable insights for state-owned enterprises, suggesting that institutionalizing green management practices and strategically embedding ESRP in organizational decision-making can enhance long-term project viability. These findings advance theoretical understanding of sustainability drivers in infrastructure development while offering policymakers a framework for aligning megaproject governance with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
[1] Ahmad Giran, A. H., Muhamad Tamyez, P. F. & Fauzi, M. A. (2025). The paradoxes of sustainable HRM: Insights through the perspective of common good, green, social responsibility, and triple bottom line. Human Systems Management, 01672533251320795.
[2] Ahmad, S. (2015). Green human resource management: Policies and practices. Cogent Business & Management, 2(1), 1030817.
[3] Arulrajah, A. A., Opatha, H., & Nawaratne, N. (2015). Green human resource management practices: A review. Sri Lankan Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(1), 1-16.
[4] Audunson, R., Aabø, S., Blomgren, R., Evjen, S., Jochumsen, H., Larsen, H., Rasmussen, C. H., Vårheim, A., Johnston, J., & Koizumi, M. (2019). Public libraries as an infrastructure for a sustainable public sphere: A comprehensive review of research. Journal of Documentation, 75(4), 773-790.
[5] Beigi, M., Shirmohammadi, M., & Stewart, J. (2018). Flexible work arrangements and work-family conflict: A metasynthesis of qualitative studies among academics. Human Resource Development Review, 17(3), 314-336.
[6] Berrone, P., & Gomez-Mejia, L. R. (2009). Environmental performance and executive compensation: An integrated agency-institutional perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 52(1), 103-126.
[7] Bowman, D. M., Moreira-Muñoz, A., Kolden, C. A., Chávez, R. O., Muñoz, A. A., Salinas, F., González-Reyes, Á., Rocco, R., De La Barrera, F., & Williamson, G. J. (2019). Human-environmental drivers and impacts of the globally extreme 2017 Chilean fires. Ambio, 48(4), 350-362.
[8] Brodeur, G., Yau, E., Badal, K., Collier, J., Ramachandran, K., & Ramakrishnan, S. (2011). Chemical and physicochemical pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass: A review. Enzyme Research, 2011, Article 787532.
[9] Carbone, V., & Moatti, V. (2011). Towards greener supply chains: An institutional perspective. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 14(3), 179-197.
[10] Chaudhary, A., Gustafson, D., & Mathys, A. (2018). Multi-indicator sustainability assessment of global food systems. Nature Communications, 9(1), Article 848.
[11] Chittaphone, B. (2023). The value of the Belt and Road Initiative in Laos: The Laos-China railway chase. Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization, 134, 50-65.
[12] Choi, Y., & Yu, Y. (2014). The influence of perceived corporate sustainability practices on employees and organizational performance. Sustainability, 6(1), 348-364.
[13] Clair, J. A., Milliman, J., & Whelan, K. S. (1996). Toward an environmentally sensitive ecophilosophy for business management. Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly, 9(4), 289-326.
[14] Cohen, E. E., Soulieres, D., Le Tourneau, C., Dinis, J., Licitra, L., Ahn, M.-J., Soria, A., Machiels, J.-P., Mach, N., & Mehra, R. (2019). Pembrolizumab versus methotrexate, docetaxel, or cetuximab for recurrent or metastatic head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (KEYNOTE-040): A randomised, open-label, phase 3 study. The Lancet, 393(10167), 156-167.
[15] Davidescu, A. A., Apostu, S.-A., Paul, A., & Casuneanu, I. (2020). Work flexibility, job satisfaction, and job performance among Romanian employees—Implications for sustainable human resource management. Sustainability, 12(15), Article 6086.
[16] Delmas, M. A., & Burbano, V. C. (2011). The drivers of greenwashing. California Management Review, 54(1), 64–86.
[17] Delmonico, D., Jabbour, C. J. C., Pereira, S. C. F., de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L., Renwick, D. W. S., & Thomé, A. M. T. (2018). Unveiling barriers to sustainable public procurement in emerging economies: Evidence from a leading sustainable supply chain initiative in Latin America. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 134, 70–77.
[18] Diana, A., Haszard, J. J., Purnamasari, D. M., Nurulazmi, I., Luftimas, D. E., Rahmania, S., Nugraha, G. I., Erhardt, J., Gibson, R. S., & Houghton, L. (2017). Iron, zinc, vitamin A and selenium status in a cohort of Indonesian infants after adjusting for inflammation using several different approaches. British Journal of Nutrition, 118(10), 830–838.
[19] 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.
[20] Eccles, R. G., Ioannou, I., & Serafeim, G. (2012). The impact of a corporate culture of sustainability on corporate behavior and performance. National Bureau of Economic Research. USA.
[21] Elkington, J., & Rowlands, I. H. (1999). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Alternatives Journal, 25(4), 41.
[22] Esthi, R. B., & Setiawan, I. (2023). Green human resources management of the small and micro-enterprises in Indonesia. Enrichment: Journal of Management, 12(6), 4877–4883.
[23] Fang, K., Xu, A., Wang, S., Jia, X., Liao, Z., Tan, R. R., Sun, H., & Su, F. (2023). Progress towards Sustainable Development Goals in the Belt and Road Initiative countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 424, 138808.
[24] Fang, T., Ma, W., Yan, G., & Zhang, H. (2024). Optimization design based overall layout of cold chain logistics on Weihai City. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Transportation and City Engineering (STCE 2023) (pp. 559–565). SPIE.
[25] Fayyaz, A., Liu, C., Xu, Y., & Ramzan, S. Z. (2023). Effects of green human resource management, internal environmental management and developmental culture between lean six sigma and operational performance. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 16(1), 109-140.
[26] Fernández, G., Weis, S., Stoffel-Wagner, B., Tendolkar, I., Reuber, M., Beyenburg, S., ... & Elger, C. E. (2003). Menstrual cycle-dependent neural plasticity in the adult human brain is hormone, task, and region specific. Journal of Neuroscience, 23(9), 3790-3795.
[27] Florida, R., & Davison, D. (2001). Gaining from green management: Environmental management systems inside and outside the factory. California Management Review, 43(3), 64–82.
[28] Freitas, W. R. S., Caldeira-Oliveira, J. H., Teixeira, A. A., Stefanelli, N. O., & Teixeira, T. B. (2020). Green human resource management and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from Brazilian firms. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(4), 1551-1569.
[29] Huang, Y. (2016). Understanding China’s Belt & Road initiative: Motivation, framework and assessment. China Economic Review, 40, 314–321.
[30] Hussain, A., Rizwan, M., Ali, Q., & Ali, S. (2019). Seed priming with silicon nanoparticles improved the biomass and yield while reduced the oxidative stress and cadmium concentration in wheat grains. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26, 7579–7586.
[31] Hussain, M. M., & Shafiq, M. (2023). Intellectual capital and sustainable organizational performance in banking sector of Pakistan: Examine the mediating role of organizational innovation. Journal of Accounting and Finance in Emerging Economies, 9(4), 613-626.
[32] Jabbour, C. J. C. (2013). Environmental training in organisations: From a literature review to a framework for future research. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 74, 144-155.
[33] Jiang, Q., Bhattarai, N., Pahlow, M., & Xu, Z. (2022). Environmental sustainability and footprints of global aquaculture. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 180, 106183.
[34] Johnston, L. A. (2019). The Belt and Road Initiative: What is in it for China? Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 6(1), 40-58.
[35] Kitazawa, S., & Sarkis, J. (2000). The relationship between ISO 14001 and continuous source reduction programs. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 20(2), 225-248.
[36] Kuik, C.-C. (2021a). Getting hedging right: A small-state perspective. China International Strategy Review, 3(2), 300-315.
[37] Kuik, C.-C. (2021b). Laos's enthusiastic embrace of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Asian Perspective, 45(4), 735-759.
[38] Lü, Y., Fu, B., Wei, W., Yu, X., & Sun, R. (2011). Major ecosystems in China: Dynamics and challenges for sustainable management. Environmental management, 48, 13-27.
[39] Mackey, A., Mackey, T. B., & Barney, J. B. (2007). Corporate social responsibility and firm performance: Investor preferences and corporate strategies. Academy of Management Review, 32(3), 817-835.
[40] Malviya, R. K., & Kant, R. (2015). Green supply chain management (GSCM): a structured literature review and research implications. Benchmarking: An international journal, 22(7), 1360-1394.
[41] Mancha, R. M., & Yoder, C. Y. (2015). Cultural antecedents of green behavioral intent: An environmental theory of planned behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 43, 145-154.
[42] Martinez, A. W., Phillips, S. T., Butte, M. J., & Whitesides, G. M. (2007). Patterned paper as a platform for inexpensive, low‐volume, portable bioassays. Angewandte Chemie, 119(8), 1340-1342.
[43] Merriman, K. K., & Sen, S. (2012). Incenting managers toward the triple bottom line: An agency and social norm perspective. Human Resource Management, 51(6), 851-871.
[44] Nazeer, S., Fugate, P., & Shafiq, M. (2020). Farm level sustainable cotton supply chain management: an empirical study of Pakistan. International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 37(3), 389-406.
[45] Nazeer, S., Saleem, H. M. N., & Shafiq, M. (2024). Examining the influence of adoptability, alignment, and agility approaches on the sustainable performance of aviation industry: An empirical investigation of supply chain perspective. International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace, 11(1), 8.
[46] Novitasari, M., Wijaya, A. L., Agustin, N. M., Gunardi, A., & Dana, L. P. (2023). Corporate social responsibility and firm performance: Green supply chain management as a mediating variable. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 30(1), 267-276.
[47] Paillé, P., Chen, Y., Boiral, O., & Jin, J. (2014). The impact of human resource management on environmental performance: An employee-level study. Journal of Business ethics, 121, 451-466.
[48] Panichakarn, B., Pochan, J., Shafiq, M., Saleem, I., Wang, Y., & Nazeer, S. (2024). The interplay of digital transformation, agility, environmental volatility, and innovation to spur enterprise performance: Evidence from Chinese electric vehicle firms. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 10(4), 100408.
[49] Pham, N. T., Tučková, Z., & Phan, Q. P. T. (2019). Greening human resource management and employee commitment toward the environment: An interaction model. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 20(3), 446-465.
[50] Phuong, P. T. H., Nghiem, T. D., Thao, P. T. M., & Nguyen, T. D. (2022). Emission factors of selected air pollutants from rice straw open burning in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Atmospheric Pollution Research, 13(3), 101353.
[51] 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.
[52] Qalati, S. A., Siddiqui, F., & Magni, D. (2024). Senior management's sustainability commitment and environmental performance: Revealing the role of green human resource management practices. Business Strategy and the Environment, 33(8), 8965-8977.
[53] Ramayah, T. J. F. H., Cheah, J., Chuah, F., Ting, H., & Memon, M. A. (2018). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using smartPLS 3.0: An updated guide and practical guide to statistical analysis (2nd ed.).
[54] Renwick, D. W., Jabbour, C. J., Muller-Camen, M., Redman, T., & Wilkinson, A. (2016). Contemporary developments in Green (environmental) HRM scholarship. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(2), 114-128.
[55] Renwick, D. W., Redman, T., & Maguire, S. (2013). Green human resource management: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15(1), 1-14.
[56] Robertson, J. L., & Barling, J. (2013). Greening organizations through leaders' influence on employees' pro‐environmental behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(2), 176-194.
[57] Robertson, J. L., & Carleton, E. (2018). Uncovering how and when environmental leadership affects employees’ voluntary pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 25(2), 197-210.
[58] Rowedder, S. (2020). Railroading land-linked Laos: China’s regional profits, Laos’ domestic costs? Eurasian Geography and Economics, 61(2), 152-161.
[59] Sabokro, M., Masud, M. M., & Kayedian, A. (2021). The effect of green human resources management on corporate social responsibility, green psychological climate and employees’ green behavior. Journal of Cleaner Production, 313, 127963.
[60] Sahan, U. M. H., Jaaffar, A. H. H., & Osabohien, R. (2025). Green human resource management, energy saving behavior and environmental performance: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Energy Sector Management, 19(1), 220-237.
[61] Seuring, S., & Müller, M. (2008). From a literature review to a conceptual framework for sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(15), 1699-1710.
[62] Shafiq, M., & Soratana, K. (2019). Humanitarian logistics and supply chain management-a qualitative study. LogForum, 15(1).
[63] Shafiq, M., & Soratana, K. (2020). Lean readiness assessment model–a tool for Humanitarian Organizations' social and economic sustainability. Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 10(2), 77-99.
[64] Shah, P., Singh Dubey, R., Rai, S., Renwick, D. W., & Misra, S. (2024). Green human resource management: A comprehensive investigation using bibliometric analysis. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 31(1), 31-53.
[65] Shi, L., Huang, H., Lu, X., Yan, X., Jiang, X., Xu, R., ... & Wang, F. S. (2021). Effect of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells on lung damage in severe COVID-19 patients: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 6(1), 58.
[66] Shoaib, M., Qadeer, N., Zámečník, R., Javed, M., & Nawal, A. (2025). Towards a greener tomorrow: investigating the nexus of GHRM, technology innovation, and employee green behavior in driving sustainable performance. Cogent Business & Management, 12(1), 2442095.
[67] Ambec, S., & Lanoie, P. (2008). Does it pay to be green? A systematic overview. Academy of Management Perspectives, 22, 45-62.
[68] Sulich, A., & Kozar, Ł. J. (2024). Green competences: A review and future research in the context of green human resource management. Ekonomia i Środowisko, 89(2), 1-14.
[69] Székely, F., & Knirsch, M. (2005). Responsible leadership and corporate social responsibility: Metrics for sustainable performance. European Management Journal, 23(6), 628-647.
[70] Tamimi, S., Arshad, R., Haq, S. U., & Chughtai, M. A. (2024). Application of green HRM and its impact on environmental performance: a case of construction projects. International Journal of Business Environment, 15(1), 41-62.
[71] Tang, M., Walsh, G., Lerner, D., Fitza, M. A., & Li, Q. (2018). Green innovation, managerial concern and firm performance: An empirical study. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(1), 39-51.
[72] Tashfeen, R., Saleem, I., Ashfaq, M., Noreen, U., & Shafiq, M. (2023). How do women on board reduce a firm’s risks to ensure sustainable performance during a crisis?. Sustainability, 15(14), 11145.
[73] Turker, D. (2009). Measuring corporate social responsibility: A scale development study. Journal of Business Ethics, 85, 411-427.
[74] Wang, J., Wu, N., & Yu, Z. (2022). Green supply chain management (GSCM) and green human resource management (GHRM): a literature review and future research direction. In 2022 7th International Conference on Financial Innovation and Economic Development (ICFIED 2022) (pp. 2246-2252). Atlantis Press.
[75] Watzlawick, P., Bavelas, J. B., & Jackson, D. D. (2011). Pragmatics of human communication: A study of interactional patterns, pathologies and paradoxes, WW Norton & Company.
[76] Wehrmeyer, J. A., Yeralan, S., & Tecu, K. S. (1996). Influence of strain rate and fuel dilution on laminar nonpremixed hydrogen—Air flame structure: An experimental investigation. Combustion and Flame, 107(1-2), 125-140.
[77] Woodward, A., Smith, K. R., Campbell-Lendrum, D., Chadee, D. D., Honda, Y., Liu, Q., ... & Haines, A. (2014). Climate change and health: On the latest IPCC report. The Lancet, 383(9924), 1185-1189.
[78] Yang, Z., Huang, D., & Wang, Y. (2023). Measuring the bilateral energy security cooperation sustainability between China and its neighboring countries based on the national energy security level. Sustainability, 15(2), 1339.
[79] Zhou, M., & Lyu, H. (2025). Intensifying separation or collaborative prosperity? The impact of The Belt and Road Initiative on China's urban-rural integration development from a spatial justice lens. Habitat International, 156, 103249.
[80] Zibarras, L. D., & Coan, P. (2015). HRM practices used to promote pro-environmental behavior: A UK survey. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(16), 2121-2142.