Sustainable HRM in the Public Sector: A Question of Viability or Legitimacy?

ABSTRACT Recent research has underlined the growing importance of sustainability in HRM policy and practice, taking into account long‐term multi‐stakeholder goals. However, few studies have specified the drivers and outcomes of sustainable HRM practices, nor the contradictions that arise when managers attempt to satisfy the demands of both internal and external stakeholders. Drawing on in‐depth case studies of the UK public sector, we distinguish between the institutional sustainability logics of (i) viability (concerned with necessary resources and capacities to deliver) and (ii) legitimacy (concerned with satisfying social and moral demands for fair and consistent HR practices) and explore how these two logics interact through positive and negative feedback loops. Our findings show that across an increasingly complex HRM eco‐system, the tensions between viability and legitimacy are increasingly addressed through a focus on building individual human capital and personal wellbeing rather than protecting job security and the collective ‘common good’.