The European Union established the Emissions Trading System in 2005, marking the launch of the first carbon trading market under a cap-and-trade framework. In response to the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries began developing related policies, and in 2023, Taiwan enacted the Climate Change Response Act, which aims for net-zero emissions by 2050. These initiatives compel companies to embrace green human resource management practices, with employees playing a vital role in enhancing environmental performance (Becker & Huselid, 2006).
Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) aims at influencing workers' behavior and attitude by various practices, including green staffing, green training, green performance management, green rewards, and green participation. Employees' green behavior can be categorized into two types: in-role actions, which are driven by task requirements, and extra-role actions, which are voluntary (Ones & Dilchert, 2012). The green psychological climate reflects how employees perceive their organization's environmental policies, and positive perceptions can lead to employees' green behavior.
The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between GHRM and employees' green behavior, and to investigate the moderating effect of the green psychological climate. A total of 273 responses were obtained through surveys, with 75% of participants from large enterprises, 33% holding supervisory positions, and over half working in the high-tech industry. The results showed that GHRM is positively related to employees' green behavior. Moreover, the green psychological climate moderates the relationship between GHRM and employees' green behavior. The findings suggest that companies could find more employees' green behavior if they can nurture a favorable green psychological climate while practicing GHRM. At last, we found that firms with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reports also have higher employees' green behavior. It may be due to the focus these companies place on sustainability issues, which encourages employees to adopt eco-friendly practices more readily.