Green Human Resource Management and Employee Green Behavior in Higher Education: A Theory-Driven TPB Framework with Trust and Resistance to Change

Abstract

Higher education institutions are increasingly expected to embed sustainability into their operations, cultures and human resource systems. Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) provides a strategic mechanism for doing so because recruitment, training, performance management, rewards and employee involvement can shape the conditions under which employees engage in environmentally responsible behavior. Yet the relationship between GHRM and Employee Green Behavior (EGB) is not adequately explained by treating HR practices as direct behavioral predictors. This paper develops a theory-driven framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), extended through Resistance to Change and Perceived Organizational Trust. A structured integrative literature review was conducted using the thesis framework and contemporary research on GHRM, EGB and higher education sustainability. The synthesis indicates that GHRM operates through three psychological mechanisms: attitudes toward environmental behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Attitudes capture employees’ evaluations of green practices; subjective norms capture social expectations; and perceived behavioral control captures capability, resources and autonomy. Resistance to change is conceptualized as a constraining condition that can weaken the translation of positive psychological beliefs into behavior, whereas organizational trust is conceptualized as an enabling condition that strengthens receptivity to institutional sustainability initiatives. The paper further argues that higher education creates a distinctive sustainability spillover because faculty and staff can influence students, institutional culture and community practices. The resulting framework provides theoretical propositions for future empirical research while deliberately avoiding presentation of new primary-data results.