Organizational direction, expectations, and employees' intention for Green HRM practices in the Philippines: a signaling theory perspective

Green human resource management (HRM) highlights the importance of aligning human resources practices with the environmental goals of organizations. Given that employees are at the core of HRM, it is important to determine how they form intentions for green HRM practices, particularly in contexts such as the Philippines—a country in Asia that frequently experiences disasters. Guided by signaling theory, we assert that organizational directions that are environmentally oriented relay signals to employees about prioritizing environmental sustainability, which influences employees’ intention for green HRM. We also assert that pursuing such organizational directions entails articulating expectations, and employees wanting to deliver these expectations explains why employees will want to institute green HRM. We conducted a survey among 189 employees complemented by interviews with 15 HRM leaders in the Philippines. Our findings advance current understanding of the mechanisms through which employees’ intention for green HRM practices are shaped by and orient efforts to engender employee involvement in environmental sustainability initiatives.