Environmental Researches

Environmental Researches

The Impact of Environmental Awareness and Green Human Resource Management on Corporate Social Responsibility: An Analysis of the Mediating Role of Culture and Organizational Green Innovation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Habib Ebrahim pour 1
Hamidreza Namatollahi 2
Najme Parsaee 3
Shabnam Zarjou 4
1 Professor, Department of Public Administration and Tourism, faculty of social science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili,Ardabil, Iran.
2 Master of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
3 Master's degree, Business Administration, Strategic Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Fars Gulf, Bushehr, Iran.
4 PHD student of Leadership and Human Capital Department, Faculty of Management and Organizational Sciences, School of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/eiap.2026.445010.2562
Abstract
Given the ever-increasing intensification of environmental degradation caused by industrial pollutants and its remarkable growth, green human resources, as an important approach in today's industries seeking to create a more sustainable and responsible environment, has enabled industries through the implementation of its practices to reduce their environmental impacts, improve their brand image, increase employee involvement, and enjoy a competitive advantage. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the mediating role of green organizational culture and green innovation in the impact of environmental awareness and green human resource management on corporate social responsibility. The present study falls under the category of applied research, is a cross-sectional study based on the data collection time criterion, and is a quantitative study based on the nature of the data and the research foundation. The main tool for data collection in the present study is a standard questionnaire. The statistical population under study is the employees of Shiraz Petrochemical Company. The sample size was estimated to be 250 people using SPSS SamplePower sampling software. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and PLS statistical software. Data analysis showed that environmental awareness has a positive and significant effect on corporate social responsibility as well as green innovation, green human resource management has a positive and significant effect on corporate social responsibility and green organizational culture, green innovation has a positive and significant effect on corporate social responsibility, green organizational culture has a positive and significant effect on corporate social responsibility, green innovation has an effect between environmental awareness and corporate social responsibility, and finally green organizational culture has an effect between green human resource management and corporate social responsibility. The achievement of the present study indicates that increasing environmental awareness and linking it with human resource practices and defining the human resource approach with a green perspective leads to the improvement of corporate social responsibility, making the organization more responsive to its environment and bringing about fundamental changes in this regard; however, by strengthening organizational green culture and innovation, such changes will yield double the results, because the organization's employees, possessing innovation and helping to expand green culture, will inject the green approach into human resource functions and will strive to enrich social responsibility more richly by increasing environmental awareness. This is of great importance in petrochemical industries, which are one of the accelerating factors of pollution and environmental destruction; therefore, it is suggested to industries, especially petrochemical industries, to provide the ground for improving measures and reducing damage to the environment by emphasizing education and the development of environmental culture and awareness and re-engineering human resource processes with a green perspective.
Keywords
Environmental Awareness
Green Human Resource Management
Green Organizational Culture
Green Innovation
Corporate Social Responsibility
Subjects
Ahmed, R.  R., Akbar,  W., Aijaz,  M.,  Channar, Z.  A., Ahmed,  F., &  Parmar,  V. (2023).  The role of green
innovation on environmental and organizational performance: Moderation of human resource practices and management commitment. Heliyon, 9(1).
Ahmed, M., Zehou, S., Raza, S., & Qureshi, M. (2020). Impact of CSR and environmental triggers on employee green behavior: The mediating effect of employee well-being. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 2225-2239.
Aukhoon, M. A., Iqbal, J., & Parray, Z. A. (2024). Impact of corporate social responsibility on employee green behavior: Role of green human resource management practices and employee green culture. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.
Akremi, A. E., Gond, J. P., Swaen, V., Roeck, K. D., & Igalens, J. (2018). How do employees perceive corporate responsibility? Development and validation of a multidimensional corporate stakeholder responsibility scale. Journal of Management, 44(2), 619–657.
Allameh, S. (2018). Antecedents and consequences of intellectual capital: the role o social capital, knowledge sharing and innovation. J. Intellectual Capital, 19(5), 858–874.
Bissing-Olson, M. J., Iyer, A., Fielding, K. S., & Zacher, H. (2013). Relationships between daily affect and proenvironmental behavior at work: The moderating role of pro-environmental attitude. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 156–175.
Boan, E., & Dedeolu, B. (2020). Hotel employees' corporate social responsibility perception and organizational citizenship behavior: Perceived external prestige and pride in organization as serial mediators. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environment Management, 27, 2342–2353.
Cavicchi, C. (2017). Healthcare sustainability and the role of intellectual capital: Evidence from an Italian Regional Health Service. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 18(3), 544-563.
Chaudhary, R. (2020). Green human resource management and employee green behavior: An empirical analysis. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27, 630–641.
Darvishmotevali, M., & Altinay, L. (2022). Green HRM, environmental awareness and green behaviors: The moderating role of servant leadership. Tourism Management, 88, 104401.
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.
Ebrahim pour, H. , zarjou, S. and nematollahi, H. (2024). Analysis of the mediating role of green transformational leadership and responsible leadership in the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and Green human resource management (Case of study: Shiraz Petrochemical). Applied Educational Leadership, 5(3), 188-211. doi: 10.22098/ael.2023.12536.1248(in perisan)
Faeni, D. P., Oktaviani, R. F., Riyadh, H. A., Faeni, R. P., & Beshr, B. A. H. (2025). Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Reducing Carbon Emissions for Sustainable Practices. Environmental Quality Management, 34(3), e70048.
Gadenne, D. L., Kennedy, J., & McKeiver, C. (2009). An empirical study of environmental awareness and practices in SMEs. Journal of Business Ethics, 84, 45-63.
García-Rivas, M. I., Gálvez-Sánchez, F. J., Noguera-Vivo, J. M., & Meseguer-Sánchez, V. (2023). Corporate social responsibility reports: A review of the evolution, approaches and prospects. Heliyon.
Guerci, M., Longoni, A., & Luzzini, D. (2016). Translating stakeholder pressures into environmental performance – The mediating role of green HRM practices. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(2), 1–28.
Hadzigeorgiou, Y., & Skoumios, M. (2013). The Development of Environmental Awareness through School Science: Problems and Possibilities. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 8(3), 405-426.
Han, H., & Yoon, H. J. (2015). Hotel customers' environmentally responsible behavioral intention: Impact of key constructs on decision in green consumerism. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 45, 22-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2014.11.004
Han, Z. Wang, Q. & Yan, X. (2019). How responsible leadership motivates employees to engage in organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: A double-mediation model. Sustainability, 11(3), pp. 605.
Hu, W., Xu, Y., & Yang, J. (2025). Green human resource practices and corporate sustainable performance—The role of corporate green culture and dynamic capabilities. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 32(1), 635-646.
Inceoglu, I., Thomas, G., & Chu, C. (2018). Leadership behavior and employee well-being: An integrated review and a future research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 179-202.
Khanmohammadi, M. M. , Seifi, M. and Nateghi, F. (2022). The Effect of Teaching Philosophy to Children on Their Epistemological Beliefs and Learning Environmental Concepts in 11th Grade Students. Journals of Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, 11(1), 35-58. doi: 10.30473/ee.2022.52334.2193(in perisan)
Kim, Y. J., Kim, W. G., Choi, H. M., & Phetvaroon, K. (2019). The effect of green human resource management on hotel employees’ ecofriendly behavior and environmental performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76, 83–93.
Leroy, H., Segers, J., & Dierendonck, D. (2018). Managing people in organizations: Integrating the study of hrm and leadership. Human Resource Management Review, 28(3), 249–257.
Lin, Z., Gu, H., Gillani, K. Z., & Fahlevi, M. (2024). Impact of Green Work–Life Balance and Green Human Resource Management Practices on Corporate Sustainability Performance and Employee Retention: Mediation of Green Innovation and Organisational Culture. Sustainability, 16(15), 6621.
Lombardi, R., Manfredi, S., Cuozzo, B., & Palmaccio, M. (2020). The profitable relationship among corporate social responsibility and human resource management: A new sustainable key factor. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 1, 1–11.
Mei, N. S., Wai, C. W., & Ahamad, R. (2016). Environmental awareness and behaviour index for Malaysia. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 222, 668-675.
Ni, L., Ahmad, S. F., Alshammari, T. O., Liang, H., Alsanie, G., Irshad, M., ... & Ayassrah, A. Y. B. A. (2023). The role of environmental regulation and green human capital towards sustainable development: The mediating role of green innovation and industry upgradation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 421, 138497.
Norton, T., Parker, S., & Zacher, H. (2015). Employee green behavior: A theoretical framework, multilevel review, and future research agenda (supplementary material). Organization & Environment, 28(1), 103-125
Pham, N. T., Hoang, H. T., & Phan, Q. P. (2019). Green human resource management: A comprehensive review and future research agenda. International Journal of Manpower, 41(7), 845–878
Phillips, F. (2018). Innovation for sustainability. Strat. Change, 27(6), 539–542.
Qiu, S., Dooley, M. L., & Xie, L. (2020). How servant leadership and self-efficacy interact to affect service quality in the hospitality industry: A polynomial regression with response surface analysis. Tourism Management, 78, 104051.
Rawashdeh, A. (2018). The impact of green human resource management on organizational environmental performance in Jordanian health service organizations, Management Science Letters, 8(10):1049-1058
Rehman, S. U., Kraus, S., Shah, S. A., Khanin, D., & Mahto, R. V. (2021). Analyzing the relationship between green innovation and environmental performance in large manufacturing firms. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 163, 120481.
Roscoe, S., Subramanian, N., Jabbour, C. J., & Chong, T. (2019). Green human resource management and the enablers of green organisational culture: Enhancing a firm's environmental performance for sustainable development, Business Strategy and the Environment, 12(3):34-49
Rubel, M.R.B., Kee, D.M.H., Rimi, N.N., (2021). The influence of green HRM practices on green service behaviors: the mediating effect of green knowledge sharing. Employee Relat.: Int. J. 57, 118-127.
Ryan, A. M., & Spash, C. L. (2008). Measuring “awareness of environmental consequences”: Two scales and two interpretations. ISSN, 1834–5638.
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.
Santiago, B. D. S., Scavarda, L. F., Gusmão Caiado, R. G., Santos, R. S., & Mattos Nascimento, D. L. D. (2025). Corporate social responsibility and circular economy integration framework within sustainable supply chain management: Building blocks for industry 5.0. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 32(1), 269-290.
Seman, N. A. A., Govindan, K., Mardani, A., Zakuan, N., Saman, M. Z. M., Hooker, R. E., & Ozkul, S. (2019). The mediating effect of green innovation on the relationship between green supply chain management and environmental performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 229, 115-127.
Shahid, S. (2025). Shadows of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Experimental Study on Intensity, Motives, and Legitimacy in Organizational Reputation. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.
García-Rivas, M. I., Gálvez-Sánchez, F. J., Noguera-Vivo, J. M., & Meseguer-Sánchez, V. (2023). Corporate social responsibility reports: A review of the evolution, approaches and prospects. Heliyon
Shafiei, A., & Maleksaeidi, H. (2020). Pro-environmental behavior of university students: Application of protection motivation theory. Global Ecology and Conservation, 22, e00908.
Shen, J., & Benson, J. (2016). When CSR is a social norm: How socially responsible human resource management affects employee work behavior. Journal of Management, 20(6), 1723–1746.
Singh, S., Mittal, S., & Sengupta, A. (2019). A dual-pathway model of knowledge exchange: linking human and psychosocial capital with prosocial knowledge effectiveness. Journal of Knowledge Management, 23(5), 889-914
Székely, F., & Knirsch, M. (2005). Responsible leadership and corporate social responsibility: Metrics for sustainable performance. European Management Journal, 23(6), 628–647.
tavakoli, A., hashmi, A., sabet, A., & razeghi, S. (2018). Proposing a Green Human Resource Management Model on the Basis of Human Resource Management. Journal of Research in Human Resources Management, 10(1), 77-104. (in perisan)
Waldman, D., & Balven, R. (2015). Responsible leadership: Theoretical issues and research directions. Academy of Management Executive, 28(3), 224–234.
Wang, E., & Kang, N. (2019). Does life satisfaction matter for proenvironmental behavior? Empirical evidence from China general social survey. Quality & Quantity, 53(1), 449–469.
Yong, J. Y., Yusliza, M. Y., Ramayah, T., Chiappetta Jabbour, C. J., Sehnem, S., & Mani, V. (2020). Pathways towards sustainability in manufacturing organizations: Empirical evidence on the role of green human resource management. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(1), 212-228.
Zhou, S., Tiruneh, W. A., & Legese, M. A. (2024). The effect of corporate social responsibility on environmental performance: the mediating role of green innovation and green human resource management. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 19(11), 3848-3868.
 
 
Environmental Researches
Volume 17, Issue 33
Recerches
September 2026
Pages 41-59