Green Human Resource Management in Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67167/vertex.584Keywords:
GHRM, higher education institutions , sustainability , green behavior, AMO theory, ESGAbstract
The growing urgency of environmental sustainability has positioned higher education institutions (HEIs) as critical actors in shaping organizational and societal responses to ecological challenges. While Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) has been widely examined in corporate sectors, its application within HEIs remains underexplored and theoretically underdeveloped. This study addresses this gap through a systematic literature review of 64 peer-reviewed studies, examining (1) the range and applicability of GHRM practices in HEIs, and (2) their influence on faculty and staff green behavior. Guided by the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) framework and supported by insights from institutional and behavioral theories, the study employs a PRISMA-informed synthesis and quality appraisal to analyze patterns across the literature. Findings reveal that core GHRM practices, including green training, recruitment, performance management, and reward systems, consistently promote pro-environmental behavior and organizational citizenship behavior toward the environment (OCBE). However, the analysis also surfaces a critical implementation gap: many institutions adopt GHRM symbolically, without embedding these practices structurally, resulting in limited or inconsistent behavioral outcomes. The study further identifies key mediating mechanisms, including environmental awareness and work engagement, as well as moderating factors such as greenwashing perceptions and intrinsic motivation. Importantly, the HEI context introduces unique institutional constraints such as academic autonomy, decentralized governance, and weak performance alignment, that challenge the effectiveness of traditional GHRM models. By critically interrogating the substance or the symbolic tension in sustainability practices, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions on ethical leadership, ESG integration, and community impact. It argues that meaningful sustainability in HEIs requires moving beyond policy adoption toward authentic institutional transformation that aligns human resource systems with environmental values.
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