From green HRM to SDG success: pathways through exploratory innovation and developmental culture

Green Human Resource Management (HRM) calls for integrating environmental considerations into HRM practices, shaping firms’ environmental awareness and efforts toward sustainability. The United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability and have become the primary focal point for channeling businesses’ efforts to resolve environment- and sustainability-based grand challenges. Despite the recognized importance of green HRM, existing studies inadequately explore its impact on SDG performance (specifically SDGs 8 and 12 centered on social innovation and eco-innovation dimensions) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), whose activities are constrained by resource scarcity. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this study evaluates data from 1573 managers and 433 human resource managers of 433 SME manufacturing firms and confirms that green HRM positively affects SDG performance. In this relationship, green exploratory innovation and a developmental culture enhance these outcomes of green HRM practices. Study findings extend the RBV by positioning green HRM as a strategic resource driving sustainable outcomes and revealing its role in achieving environmental sustainability.