Generation Z as Future Sustainability Leaders: Prioritizing Green Human Resource Management Practices for Sustainable Organizations

Abstract

Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) has emerged as a strategic approach for integrating environmental sustainability into human resource practices. While previous studies have primarily focused on organizational outcomes of GHRM, limited attention has been given to how the future workforce perceives these practices. This study examines Generation Z’s perceptions of GHRM and explores their implications for sustainable organizations. A quantitative descriptive approach was employed using survey data collected from 194 university students representing Generation Z. The study evaluates five dimensions of GHRM: green recruitment, green training and development, green performance evaluation, green rewards, and green employee relations. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted to identify the relative importance of each dimension. The findings indicate that Generation Z considers all GHRM dimensions highly important, reflecting strong expectations for organizations to integrate environmental values into human resource management. Among the dimensions examined, green employee relations and green training and development received the highest evaluations, highlighting the importance of employee participation, environmental learning, and sustainability-oriented workplace culture. This study contributes to the GHRM literature by providing insights from the perspective of the future workforce and offers practical implications for organizations seeking to attract, develop, and retain sustainability-oriented talent while advancing longterm organizational sustainability. This study contributes to the GHRM literature by extending the focus of existing research to Generation Z as the future talent pool and by providing an empirical foundation for the development of generation-sensitive GHRM approaches.