From Sustainable HRM to Employee Performance: A Complex and Intertwined Road

Abstract

Sustainable HRM is an emerging field that underpins the successful implementation of corporate sustainability initiatives. Grounded on the ability-motivation-opportunity theory, this study examines the effect of sustainable HRM on employee performance. To do so, we use a mediating model to explain the underlying mechanisms in sustainable HRM and its effect on employee performance. The results show that the road to achieving sustainable HRM from employees' performance is not straightforward but intertwined with a double-mediation effect of the perceived organizational rationale for sustainability and organizational identification. These findings indicate that an organization needs to find a match or congruency between sustainable HRM practices and employees' inner dispositions, in order to achieve a positive effect on employees' performance. Sustainable HRM practices should be congruent with the sustainability orientation of the organization, and its employees need to perceive this rationale in order to create stronger identification and thus to become more engaged and to better perform.