Boosting healthcare environmental performance through green HRM practices and the mediating role of green employee empowerment

The discarding of healthcare wastes has emerged as a worldwide problem. The waste generated from the medical institutions has been a substantial polluter and a good transporter of deadly diseases. In an attempt to address the challenges and improve the operational outcomes of hospitals, the study aims to understand how Green HR strategies could support the enhancement of the EP of public hospitals in Pakistan. In this respect, special emphasis was laid on the possible mediation/bridging role of GEE in the relationship between Green HR and EP. The relationship was examined under the AMO theoretical umbrella and the social exchange theory. Thus, somewhat of a mixed-method analysis design was adopted to thoroughly investigate mediation. In the quantitative part, inter-variables dynamics were tested by SEM, while the qualitative part generated interesting insights through semi-structured interviews by using NVIVO 12, thereby supporting the numerical findings. Questionnaires were found to be a slightly inappropriate approach for collecting data and thus, structured questionnaires were distributed to a heterogeneous group of 105 hospital administrators; and in-depth interviews with 11 selected candidates from public healthcare institutions of Pakistan were also held. The results indicated that Green HR has a direct-positive effect on EP and GEE is a potential mediator. The qualitative findings complemented and deepened the understanding of the quantitative findings. Theoretically, the study advances the theoretical knowledge of the relationships among Green HR, EP, and GEE and these three constructs until now have been very elusive. The results shown that Green HR produces positive reaction for sustainable environmental outcomes through the empowerment of employees’ green behaviours.