The Sustainability of the Tobacco Industry in the Framework of Green Human Resources Management

Abstract

Our study purpose is to analyze the tobacco industry’s sustainable practices by investigating how and when green human resources management (GHRM) practices influence the development of the organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) at the individual level. Therefore, we focus on OCBE as a mediation mechanism (how) and green culture enablers as a serial mediation (when) for the nexuses between GRHM, OCBE, and organizational performance (OP). The employee behavior requires the support of managers (leadership), who serve as enablers to ensure long-term goals and increase organizational resources. Data from 410 respondents in the tobacco industry in Pakistan were analyzed using descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and the PLS-SEM model. Our results proved that GHRM significantly increased OP. In practice, our findings are helpful for managers as guidelines for the decision-making process related to improving the organizational culture and employee green behavior to improve sustainability in the tobacco industry.

1. Introduction

In the last years, sustainability and sustainable development have been essential research objectives for scholars [1]. The research was oriented with a predilection to firms employing green practices by adapting multiple organizational processes to support sustainable development and organizational citizenship behavior for developing sustainable practices in the environment [2]. Therefore, green human resources management practices (GHRM) emerged as a new sustainable approach to support the development of organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE), in relationship with the improvement of sustainable organizational performance [3].

In our framework, Prakash and Sethi [4] underlined the challenges for Asian organizations raised by improving sustainability by establishing that green organizational culture has multiple benefits, including sustainable organizational performance (SOP) and sustainable growth. As a result, transforming human resources functions into GHRM, adopting the green organizational culture, and promoting green citizenship behavior should be a continuous goal for sustainable organizations [5]. Guest et al. [6] proved that GHRM plays an essential role in consuming or creating organizational resources to improve performance, and employees’ behavior is vital in promoting the sustainable development of organizations.

The contradictory results proved by many researchers underline the relevance of the relationship between GHRM and SOP to be analyzed in different contexts. Opoku Mensah et al. [7] demonstrated the positive relationship between GHRM and SOP and, in contrast, Rasheed and Alam [8] proved a negative relationship between GHRM and SOP. The pro-environmental behavior introduced between the GHRM practices and SOP transforms this relationship positively, as Roscoe et al. [9], developed by Ubeda-Garcia et al. [10], concluded that GHRM could transform SOP through firm resources. Finally, Elshaer et al. [11] concluded that GHRM does not directly influence environmental performance in small tourism enterprises.

The employees are increasingly involved in carrying out environmental activities if the organization offers them opportunities to develop their green competence through green training [12]. Therefore, voluntary behavior, such as OCBE, requires the support of managers who act as enablers ensuring the achievement of sustainable goals [3]. Leadership is considered a driving enabler that serves stakeholders’ interests in developing employee-specific values to sustain GHRM practices [13] and achieving shared goals through a culture-based value system [14]. We concluded that promoting a green culture is a significant challenge for organizations to conserve organizational resources, especially those in the tobacco industry [15,16]. Consequently, a green culture needs to be continuously improved to develop such a relationship. Therefore, enablers (i.e., leadership emphasis, peer involvement, employee empowerment, and message credibility) of green corporate culture (EGC) clearly mediate the relationship between GHRM and SOP [17].

The eighth Conference of Parties [18] of the WHO FCTC focused on the tobacco industry’s environmental sustainability, and it concluded that practically all tobacco-producing countries had integrated potential health risks associated with tobacco use, the dangers of tobacco smoke exposure, and the advantages of nicotine quitting into their advertising campaigns. However, less than half of these countries convey economic and environmental costs of tobacco use.

Starting from previous research and taking into consideration the particularities of the tobacco industry in Pakistan, we elaborated the following objectives:

• Developing a theoretical model that gives a thorough knowledge of organizational sustainability by incorporating GHRM (green training, green recruiting, green reward, green skill development) and enablers of green culture into the Conservation of resources theory (COR) framework.
• Exploring the mediating role of enablers of green culture between the GHRM and SOP.
• Investigating the serial mediating role of the enabler of green culture between GHRM and OCBE.

Our study investigation is oriented to the manufacturing industry due to following reasons:

• Prior studies have reported scarcity in sustainable performance mechanisms, leading some researchers to doubt the environmental concern and culture of the tobacco industry [19].
• Many researchers have criticized the limited efforts of the tobacco industry in ensuring its environmental sustainability [20]. In this case, the tobacco industry’s reputation is at stake, forcing it to find another approach to assess its sustainability.
• Adapting sustainability practices and promoting green practices are vital in changing stakeholders’ perspectives.

The sustainable performance of the tobacco industry requires further research to determine its influencing factors, including the perceptions toward the GHRM practices, green culture enablers, and OCBE in an organization [21]. Article 6 of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is also in force in the Pakistan tobacco industry. This article recommends reducing tobacco consumption through taxes and price policies on tobacco products [22]. As a result, the tobacco company’s leadership must develop sustainable strategies, GHRM practices, OCBE, and green culture [23]. Therefore, unsustainable practices conduct additional threats and reputational harm in an already contentious industry.

Tobacco firms have been ridiculed for potentially using environmental campaigns to boost their image and increase organizational resources [24] by investing in human resources and then developing the citizenship behavior of employees [25] and organizational culture [19], to exert leverage on the tobacco control plan. Consequently, instead of taking concrete action related to reducing the negative phenomena such as child labor and deforestation in developed countries, it is concerning that organizations have used GHRM practices to legitimize their portrayals as socially and environmentally responsible for marketing tobacco [26,27]. Tobacco companies situated in the top 12 tobacco-growing developing nations gained a competitive advantage from unpaid labor costs and annual expenditures relating to the prevention of tobacco-related deforestation [26]. These concerns emphasize the significance of an effective GHRM strategy for improving a company’s sustainability performance by increasing organizational resources and preventing resource depletion in the globalized tobacco industry.

2. Theoretical Perspectives and Hypotheses Development

Previous research on GHRM practices and their impact on organizational behavior has been under-theorized [28,29]. Brewster et al. [30] proved that organizational policies concerning organizational resources improve access to training, recruiting, skill, and development while building fair performance appraisal and reward systems.

Halbesleben and Wheeler [31] extend the COR theory to include social support and trust to access individuals’ resources, and they recommend that the COR theory be refined with potential variables. We address this limitation by introducing a green organizational culture enabler role on the link between GHRM and OBCE to consider corporate culture as an administrative resource. The COR theory is a good approach for explaining employees’ motivations for proactive resources acquisition to develop SOP.

According to the COR theory, resources depletion or loss may negatively influence employees’ behavior. Employees are encouraged to avoid or reduce resources depletion.

Hobfoll et al. [32], who developed the COR theory and richly conceptualize resources investment, accumulation, and depletion mechanisms, allow us to explain how GHRM and green organizational culture deplete organizational resources if not used appropriately. Therefore, we are confident that our results will provide a new approach to GHRM effects, and we will provide light on how organizational green resources are employed for sustainable performance.

Luu [33] proved a positive outcome of GHRM practice at individual and collective levels regarding OCBE for the environment through green crafting of tour operators.

In contrast to previous arguments, we provide a complementary approach by explaining the relationship between GHRM and SOP using COR theory [34]. As a result, we will underline the mediating psychological mechanism of OCBE in the relationship between GHRM and employees’ long-term performances.

2.1. Green Human Resources Management Practices

Jabbour and Santos [35] proved that improving the environmental performance of the manufacturing industry requires collaboration, coordination, evaluating environmental targets, non-financial incentives, and organizational culture. Renwick et al. [36] indicate that environmental awareness selection, recruitment, training, and development might be seen as components of the GHRM practices in relationship with environmental human resources management (EHRM), and since this concept has been extended as a multidimensional construct [37,38].

The diversity of research on GHRM practices involves green recruiting and selection, green training, green performance management, engagement, appraisal, and benefits systems [39,40]. The Yong et al. [1] approach measures GHRM through training, recruitment, rewards, selection, performance assessment and analysis, and job description. Raut et al. [41] concluded that GHRM practices involve environmental vision, training, personnel environmental performance assessment, and the provision of incentive programs.

2.2. The Relationship between Green Human Resources Management and Organizational Performance

GHRM practices play a significant role in achieving SOP, and for this reason, critical factors to assessing SOP need to be identified [42]. However, only a few studies have explored how GHRM practices boost the performance of organizations [43,44,45].

Managers, particularly those in the human resources department, play a critical role in achieving ecological goals, fostering operations, and investing in human resources by selecting, training, evaluating, and appraising an environmentally conscious workforce [17]. According to COR theory, an individual strives to obtain, maintain, foster, and conserve the most important things. COR theory was expanded to understand better how people allocate and preserve resources in the face of resource gains and losses. As a result, GHRM initiatives are expected to play an essential role in increasing the firm’s resources to improve SOP. Given these shreds of evidence, the first hypothesis states:

Hypothesis 1.

Green human resources management practices positively influence organizational performance.

2.3. Enablers of Green Culture

Enablers of green culture (EGC) refer to employees’ beliefs, values, and behaviors related to their working environment. Whenever employees go beyond their financial objectives, they begin to value the pro-environmental factors in their workplace [46].

Nowadays, developing a green culture is a great challenge for organizations attempting to meet environmental changes while preserving human resources to achieve organizational performance [47]. HR leadership plays a critical role in devising environmental strategies to build green resources by ensuring the readiness of employees and implementing policies for enabling a green culture [48].

The second plan includes the importance of assessing resources in their cultural context, stating that COR theory focuses on the fundamental principles determining how the employees respond to stress inside shared cultural norms and individual differences. Therefore, human resources management must establish organizational policies that encourage access to training and development while also providing performance appraisal and reward systems to employees [49].

Several enablers of green culture have been reported in the literature, including the establishment of formal and informal information channels [40], top management support [47], leadership emphasis, message credibility, employee empowerment, and peer involvement [10]. Recent studies have highlighted the importance and lack of research on EGC in the manufacturing industry [50].

Bowen [51] considers that a pro-environmental organization needs to adopt a green culture and promote environmental strategies. The message credibility is generated by an easy, appealing flow of information, and sustainable and eco-friendly measures [6].

Therefore, the role of the information is to promote a green culture in the organization and improve the communication between all employees [52]. The HR department employs environment-conscious staff and uses training, leadership, and reward programs to shape their pro-environmental principles and beliefs. However, studies on GHRM and EGC are not ready to agree on how corporate resources enhance SOP.

Therefore, considering the previous statements on GHRM and EGC, we developed the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2.

Green human resources management practices positively influence enablers of green culture.

Teerikangas and Very [53] proved a significant relationship between organizational culture and performance. The enablers of culture are employees’ empowerment, which means that empowering employees to adopt green initiatives through motivation is required to achieve sustainable goals, allowing firms to establish a green culture [17] emphasizing the critical significance of EGC in the sustainable development of a green culture in the tobacco industry. Another EGC key driver is peer involvement in green initiatives, because employee participation in decision-making will facilitate the successful implementation of green culture [54]. The triple bottom relationship between EGC, GHRM, and OP generates the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3.

Enablers of green culture mediate the relationship between green human resources management practice and organizational performance.

2.4. Organizational Citinzenship Behavior for the Environment

GHRM practices are expected to enhance sustainable behavior by providing support, increasing awareness, encouraging green practices, and promoting OCBE. Many empirical studies have advocated the value of GHRM practices in generating positive green citizenship behavior as a performance outcome in the services sector [55,56]. Afsar et al. [13] investigated the pro-environmental behavior of employees from diverse sectors of Pakistan and found significant results with HRM practices. However, research on OCBE in the tobacco industry is limited and needs to be developed [57].

Furthermore, culture has been perceived as providing the leadership side of such an exchange, with employees reciprocating through high discretionary OCBE, consistent with social exchange theory [3]. However, the relationship between green culture and OCBE is less understood and needs to be studied from an environmental standpoint. Based on COR theory and social exchange theory, we want to fill this gap by analyzing the serial mediating role of EGC and OCBE in the relationship between GHRM practices and OP. As a result, we propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4.

Enablers of green organizational culture mediate the relationship between green human resource management practices and organizational citizenship behavior for the environment.

GHRM practices are used to achieve the desired knowledge, skills, and abilities, and shape employees’ attitudes toward attaining the sustainable goals of their organization [39]. Furthermore, several studies have confirmed the relationship between GHRM practices and OCBE [3,38]. Therefore, we proposed the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 5.

Green human resource management practices positively influence organizational citizenship behavior for the environment.

Employees can gain a wide range of green values, knowledge, and abilities by participating in green training programs within the GHRM system [40], and that would boost the organization’s green resources. As a result, firms would spend on human resources to improve their performance [32]. This argument is consistent with COR theory assumptions, highlighting the central role of individual behavior in conserving or depleting an organization’s resources.

The employees who have green-related resources underlined by GHRM practices are more likely to invest their current resources in OCBE. As a result, if the importance of these tasks is reduced, overall performance may decline [58].

The education sector has confirmed a significant relationship between OCBE and [50], but the importance of this relationship for the tobacco industry remains under question. Based on empirical evidence showing that OCBE significantly influences SOP, the former is assumed to substantially mediate GHRM and SOP’s relation.

The OBCE should be considered as a mediator of the relationship between GHRM and SOP because its action can enhance the tobacco industry’s green performance. Therefore, we developed the below hypothesis:

Hypothesis 6.

Organizational citizenship behavior for the environment mediates the relationship between green human resource management practices and organizational performance.

The theoretical model has been drawn based on the relevant investigation, theoretical support, and identified gaps in the literature, and is presented in Figure 1.

3. Methodology

We have collected data from employees of Pakistan’s large companies from the tobacco sector that have fully operational HR departments and HR practices in place [59]. The survey was conducted with the help of four researchers and four industry experts that helped us pre-test and develop the data collection tool. As this study focuses on organizational performance and human aspects (including HRM practices), the target respondents of the survey were employees of the sales division of tobacco manufacturing firms. We distributed 500 questionnaires to the HR department to obtain further employee data. Among the distributed questionnaires, 410 were returned and used for the analysis.

3.1. The Sample

All 410 respondents were male, working in the sales division of the Punjab region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).

Table 1. The sample characteristics.

Characteristics	Frequency	Percent (%)
Age
23–25 years	180	43.9
26–30 years	178	43.5
31–45 years	52	12.6
Education
Undergraduate	269	65.6
Postgraduate	141	34.4
Company
BAT	102	24.9
KTC	46	11.2
Philip Morris	135	32.9
PTC	127	31.0
Organization Location
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa division-KPK	170	41.5
Punjab-region	240	58.5
Designation
Area Sale Managers-ASM	115	28.0
Regional Sale Managers-RSM	7	1.7
Sales Executives-SE	288	70.2
Job Experience
0–2 years	250	61.0
3–5 years	113	27.6
more than 5 years	47	11.4

presents the sample characteristics.

Maximum respondents fall under 23–25 years old (43.9%) and hold undergraduate degrees (65.6%). Results indicate that the maximum representation of respondents were sales executives (70.2%) having job experience of 2 years (61%) in their organizations.

3.2. Measures

We used a seven-point Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree). Structural equation modeling was used for our research and started by analyzing multi-collinearity problems and co-linearity among variables.

We adapted the constructs of the GHRM variable from Roscoe et al. [9], who adapted it from Renwick et al. [36], who introduced the concept of GHRM to replace the old HRM concept, and Jabbour [60]. GRHM contains six constructs with 15 items as follows: Green Analysis and Job Description (GAJ) with three items; Green Performance Assessment (GPA) with three items; Green Recruitment (GR) with two items; Green Rewards (GRW) with two items; Green Selection (GS) with two items; and Green Training (GT) with three items.

EGC was adapted from Roscoe et al. [9] as a multidimensional construct including its four dimensions with 20 items: leadership emphasis (five items), message credibility (five items), peer involvement (five items), and employee empowerment (five items).

Leadership emphasis refers to a leader with a pro-environmental stance who adopts a green culture and promotes environmental actions. This construct was adapted from Roscoe et al. [9], who adapted it from Bowen et al. [61], Pagell and Wu [62], Sharma and Vredenburg [63], and Srinivasan and Kurey [54].

Message credibility refers to an easy, appealing flow of information; sustainable and eco-friendly actions, which help promote a green culture in an organization, should be communicated to all employees in ways that are easy to understand. This construct was adapted from Roscoe et al. [9], who adapted it from Lin and Ho [64], and Srinivasan and Kurey [54].

Peer involvement in green initiatives was adapted from Roscoe et al. [9], who adapted it from Daily et al. [17], Glover et al. [65], Jabbour [60], and Srinivasan and Kurey [54].

Empowering employees to adopt green initiatives necessary to achieve sustainable goals also enables organizations to implement a green culture, and this was adapted from Roscoe et al. [9], who adapted it from Daily et al. [17], Glover et al. [65], and Srinivasan and Kurey [54].

OCBE has seven items, and it was adapted from Hameed et al. [66], who adapted it from Paille et al. [67], and Raineri and Paille [68].

SOP refers to the parameters which measure the efforts of organizations toward the successful adaption or implementation of organizational strategies, and it contains three constructs with five items, each as follows: Economic Performance adapted from Yusliza et al. [69], who adapted it from Zhu et al. [70]; Environmental Performance adapted from Yusliza et al. [69], who adapted it from Laosirihongthong et al. [71]; Social Performance adapted from Yusliza et al. [69], who adapted it from Paulraj [72].

The values of the Cronbach alpha of the pre-test of the sample were above 0.7 as follows: OCBE—0.812; EGC—0.856; GHRM—0.807; and SOP—0. 847.

The outer loading values range from 0.702 to 0.899, and Collinearity Statistics (VIF) range from 1.953 to 4.462 (Appendix A), indicating that the evaluation scale is good [73].

We analyzed the Inner VIF values and

Table 2. Inner VIF values.

	EGC	OCBE	SOP
EGC		1.756	1.794
GHRM	1.000	1.756	1.779
OCBE			1.764

that prove the reflectivity of the model and it don not alter the values of the latent variables.

We assessed the latent variables’ reliability and validity using the indicators presented in

Table 3. Construct reliability and validity.

Constructs	Cronbach’s Alpha	rho_A	Composite Reliability	Average Variance Extracted (AVE)
EGC	0.962	0.964	0.965	0.581
GHRM	0.936	0.938	0.943	0.527
OCBE	0.939	0.940	0.950	0.733
SOP	0.945	0.946	0.951	0.564

.

The variables are convergent because the AVE value is above 0.5, rho_A values are above 0.7, and the composite reliability indicator Cronbach Alpha score for variables ranges between 0.936 and 0.962.

The values of the R Square indicator range from 0.429 to 0.767, and it is moderate to substantial (as a rule of thumb for acceptable R Square proposed by Henseler et al. [74]. NFI (normed fit index) is well above 0.7, the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) is 0.072, proving the significance of the model and the fit of the model with sample data.

The Fornell–Larcker criterion was calculated to establish discriminant validity, and we observed that for any latent variable, the value of this indicator is higher than its correlation with any other latent variable between 0.574 and 0.856). We continued with the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) analysis, and we concluded that our model is well-fit because the values of the HTMT ratio are below 1.0 (between 0.602 and 0.862).

The correlations of the latent variables are presented in

Table 4. Latent variable correlations.

Constructs	EGC	GHRM	OCBE	SOP
EGC	1.000	0.656	0.653	0.828
GHRM	0.656	1.000	0.574	0.671
OCBE	0.653	0.574	1.000	0.742
SOP	0.828	0.671	0.742	1.000

.

The strongest correlation is between EGC and SOP (0.828), demonstrating that firms need to focus on green culture to increase organizational performance from an environmental perspective.

Another strong correlation is between OCBE and SOP (0.742), strengthening the positive association of OCBE and organizational performance. GHRM is positively associated with SOP (0.671), which suggests that an increase in the green human resources issues can increase organizational performance. The lowest correlation was recorded between green human resources and OCBE (0.574), which allows us to affirm that organizational citizenship behavior towards the environment could not strengthen until we do not focus on a green culture of the organization.

We employed the inner model to evaluate the significance level in hypothesis testing. As a result, the internal model includes all variables, and their values are 1, proving the model’s significance [73].

4. Findings and Discussions

The Specific Indirect Effects are presented in

Table 5. Specific indirect effects—mean, STDEV, T-values, and p-values.

Hypotheses	Original Sample (O)	Sample Mean (M)	Standard Deviation (STDEV)	T Statistics (|O/STDEV|)	p Values
GHRM -> EGC -> SOP	0.346	0.346	0.025	14.119	0.000
GHRM -> EGC -> OCBE	0.318	0.319	0.032	10.057	0.000
EGC -> OCBE -> SOP	0.152	0.152	0.020	7.717	0.000
GHRM -> EGC -> OCBE -> SOP	0.100	0.100	0.014	7.232	0.000
GHRM -> OCBE -> SOP	0.081	0.081	0.016	4.964	0.000

. Finally, we analyzed the significance of the relationship between constructs (

Table 6. Direct Path coefficients—mean, STDEV, T-values, and p-values.

Hypotheses	Original Sample (O)	Sample Mean (M)	Standard Deviation (STDEV)	T Statistics (|O/STDEV|)	p Values	Decision
GHRM -> SOP	0.144	0.147	0.035	4.066	0.000	Accepted
GHRM -> EGC	0.656	0.659	0.033	20.077	0.000	Accepted
EGC -> SOP	0.528	0.526	0.035	14.973	0.000	Accepted
EGC -> OCBE	0.485	0.484	0.039	12.401	0.000	Accepted
GHRM -> OCBE	0.256	0.258	0.045	5.701	0.000	Accepted
OCBE -> SOP	0.315	0.314	0.033	9.458	0.000	Accepted

) using t-test analysis and p-values from path coefficients.

Values of t-test analysis are between 4.066 and 20.077, and the importance of p-values is less than 0.05 [75], which proves that all hypotheses are accepted.

Figure 2 shows the relationship between variables and underlines the hypotheses validation.

Hypothesis 1 is validated (t = 4.066, p = 0.000). GHRM practices have a significant relationship with organizational performance in the tobacco industry that was already underlined by the findings of the previous studies [76].

Yong et al. [1] investigated GHRM practices to measure the sustainable performance of Malaysian manufacturing firms and proved mixed results. For example, green training and green recruitment positively affect sustainability. Instead, green analysis, green performance and green reward have no effects on sustainability. Green training has a medium effect on performance, and green analysis does not affect performance. In contrast to Yong et al. [1] and Otoo, [76], our findings prove that green training, selection, reward, and recruiting are essential organizational resources for predicting economic, environmental, and social success.

The research in other industries, based on COR theory, validated the importance of GHRM practices. Otoo [76] investigated the impact of HRM on hotel performance and discovered that hotels might use their human resources to improve performance. For example, in our study scenario, if sales managers with environmental knowledge about tobacco products are recruited, the organization’s performance will improve.

Hypothesis 2 (t = 20.077, p = 0.000) is validated. The relationship between GHRM and green organizational culture enablers is significant and positive with a large effect size (β = 0.650).

Our findings are consistent with the Roscoe et al. [9] results investigating the relationship between GHRM practices and green culture enablers to improve firm environmental performance. Their findings highlight that leadership emphasis, peer involvement, message credibility, and employee empowerment are key enablers of green culture. They also argue that existing studies fail to investigate how culture affects organizational performance (economic, environmental, and social). Our findings emphasize the critical role of GHRM practices in building green resources through fostering a green culture by investing in human behavior.

The investment in human behavior may conserve organizational resources, and the tobacco sector is highly dependent on human involvement. GHRM practices (which include green hiring, selection, reward, and recruitment) are primarily concerned with aligning individual expectations with green organizational objectives. Therefore, GHRM practices can facilitate an environmentally based organizational structure and enable green culture [50]. The relationship between GHRM and EGC is rarely discussed, and the results of our study are added to the literature.

Hypothesis 3 (t = 14.973, p = 0.000) is validated and indicates that EGC has a significant and positive effect on SOP with a medium effect size (β = 0.528). Results are consistent with the previous studies as, for example, Roscoe et al. [9] investigated the GHRM sustainable development in the hotel industry and arrived at the same conclusion.

Daily et al. [17] stated that peer involvement could aid in developing cooperative activities centered on the firm’s environmental aims, and Luu [14] considered that environmentally sensitive teamwork is meant to minimize waste and enhance a firm’s operation drastically.

According to Jackson et al. [39], companies can only reach the proactive stage of environmental management when teams adopt pro-environmental thinking. Similarly, Roscoe et al. [9] proved that green integration necessitates peer involvement and environmentally conscious teamwork. Firms can focus on continuous improvement activities to reduce hazardous emissions and excess waste in the manufacturing process and programs to reduce the frequency of negative environmental incidents in a business [33].

Hypothesis 4 is validated (t = 12.401, p = 0.000) and proves that green culture enablers significantly mediate between GHRM and OCBE. Our findings demonstrate that EGC significantly impacts OCBE with a medium effect size (β = 0.480). Furthermore, we discovered a positive specific indirect patch of an enabler of green culture between the relationship between GHRM and OCBE. The results validate the argument of previous researchers; for example, Luu [14] demonstrated the important role of the green culture enablers (leadership emphasis, peer involvement, message credibility, and staff empowerment) in establishing effective OCBE.

This serial mediation supports managers’ arguments to encourage environmental practices in all aspects of organizational processes, such as effective peer involvement, employee empowerment, and clear communication to subordinates [77], to foster performance and provide a unique behavioral mechanism that can encourage employees to acquire green knowledge and to share it with other team members [78,79].

Based on the social exchange theory, scholars have proposed that employees build a shared perception of formal and informal culture, encompassing practices, processes, and regulations [80]. According to this theory, organizational culture and climate are important perspectives for factors that mediate the relationship between GHRM and performance [7].

Green knowledge orientation of managers develops green culture in-house meetings, workshops, and conferences by including peers and empowering employees. As a result, GHRM practices that demonstrate such behaviors in the context of the tobacco industry can result in a more environmentally conscious culture and increased productivity [64]. The relationship between GHRM practices, enablers of green culture, and organizational performance was analyzed to assess the tobacco industry’s long-term performance and proved a large impact size (β = 0.520). The findings confirm the following assumption: an individual’s shared view indicates desirable good behavior in a specific work environment because the employees are expected to perform following the firm’s goals and objectives [81,82]. The GHRM is an important antecedent to the facilitator of green culture, which can further influence human attitude and behavior and, as a result, firm performance.

Hypothesis 5 (t = 5.701, p = 0.000) is accepted and our findings support the evidence of a significant relationship between GHRM and OCBE (β = 0.250). The relationship is consistent with the previous studies that proved that GHRM practices and OCBE are important resources of organizational sustainability in today’s hyper-competitive environment. For example, Luu [14] argued that when organizations effectively utilize GHRM practices to boost green ability by creating green competence, employees are more inclined to actively participate in green activities (green training and green selection). Our findings suggest that employees’ behavior is a joint and exchange of knowledge because when the employees perceive effective training and performance appraisal, they are more willing to conduct green activities. It is considerably more critical in ecologically sensitive sectors like tobacco. Our findings emphasize the crucial importance of OCBE tailored to the environment in improving long-term performance in the context of the tobacco industry.

Hypothesis 6 (t = 9.458, p = 0.000) is accepted and proves that OCBE significantly affects OP. The findings confirmed the relationship between OCBE and SOP and aligned with the previous findings of Anwar et al. [50]. To sustain the concept of sustainability, we provided empirical evidence, and organizations gain greater organizational performance through resource management and the development of OCBE among their stakeholders. According to our findings, company-level GHRM can influence individual employee behavior, and the OCBE effect works as a mediating mechanism in this process.

5. Conclusions

Our research focuses on the role of GHRM practices in promoting organizational sustainability. Therefore, we have investigated that GHRM practices positively impact organizational performance (economic, environmental, and social), which is mediated by green culture enablers and OCBE in the tobacco industry. We also discovered serial mediation of green culture enablers between the GHRM and OCBE. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that GHRM activities were indirectly related to EGC and OCBE, implying that employees perceive such practices as exhibiting the firm’s concern for their training, appraisal, welfare, and contribution. In contrast to prior studies on the GHRM-OCBE link [3], we discovered a significant relationship, implying that firms should focus on employee behavior development for business sustainability.

In terms of stakeholders, the COVID-19 outbreak highlighted the vital importance of customers as organizational stakeholders [2]. These organizations are frequently ignored in management studies and are rarely studied in GHRM research. Customers remain one of the least investigated and disregarded areas in the GHRM study [83].

Firms must carefully manage interactions between consumers, employees, and stakeholders to maximize organizational resources [84].

Moreover, our findings reinforce the contention in the literature on the expanding debate on environmental sustainability proposed by Nara et al. [15], which warrants additional empirical inquiry in the tobacco industry. Green human resource management is essential in all sectors of the economy, but it is essential in the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry is regarded as a community industry, and effective human resource utilization is a significant concern for this industry [20].

Furthermore, the tobacco industry is labor-intensive (leaf picking), and it is focused on the connection between employees and customers at the factory interface, making it unique for researching specific human resource difficulties [26]. Our research addresses the theoretical gap between GHRM and sustainable organizational performance by promising that any firm’s investment in GHRM practices can improve sustainable performance according to the triple bottom line approach by contributing the enabler of green culture and green citizenship behavior [21]. Previously, there was little research on the tobacco industry’s sustainability [15]. Similarly, there has been some research on green citizenship behavior [50]. However, investigations on this hypothetical model have received less attention from scholars.

This research theoretically contributes to the literature in novel ways.

First, our findings on the relationship between GHRM and performance support the concept that it is past time to look beyond social exchange theory to understand OCBE [85]. We used the COR theory and proved that GHRM practices are essential as currency in a social exchange link with employees and in improving organizational resources. The GHRM-OCBE-SOP relationship is rarely studied with COR, and its explanatory potential has increased [14].

Second, we investigated the mediating mechanism of green organizational culture enablers on the relationship with GHRM and SOP. Our study fills a gap in the literature and contributes to the ongoing evolution of COR theory in the landscape of environmental management.

Third, this study’s findings looked at the serial mediation of EGC between GHRM and OCBE and found significant results. This link is missing in the literature that green culture (EGC) enablers can mediate between GHRM and OCBE.

Fourth, our findings provide a more in-depth understanding of sustainable organizational performance using a triple bottom line approach and increasing environmental management concerns.

Fifth, our study provides detailed insights into how organizational performance predictors such as green culture enablers, GHRM, and OCBE can help individuals broaden their scope of green behavior. The tobacco industry has received increased attention as a research context in the last decade. However, knowledge of the environment and its significance in the tobacco industry is still limited. Our study is one of the first, and it adds to the context of the tobacco industry; moreover, our research consists of an analysis of the hypotheses by mediating the role of ECG and OCBE. Until our study, in literature, the variables were tested separately.

Our findings have significant implications for practitioners and academics charged with instilling a green organizational culture in the next generation of leaders. From a practical standpoint, this study can assist managers in encouraging their employees to fulfill their green goal agenda and conserve their green resources by implementing pro-environmental policies in the tobacco sector.

Tobacco-related businesses should implement green development programs and provide employees with green awareness, green values, and green culture to maximize resources and prevent depletion.

Managers should consider GHRM initiatives to improve their SOP and the critical role of green organizational culture in the long-term growth of their organizations. Initially, leaders can convert GHRM practices into environment-focused leadership behaviors, encouraging their employees to take green actions. Green culture enablers shed light on the effect of green management initiatives on employees’ OCBE. This factor aids in interpreting GHRM practices and guides followers in developing their green behavior in correlation with the sustainable mission of the organization.

Limitations. First, a survey sample size consists of more than 400 respondents representing a tiny percentage of Pakistan’s tobacco industry, thus restricting the generalizability of the results. Second, this study measures EGC through its enablers (leadership emphasis, peer involvement, message credulity, and employee empowerment) instead of concentrating on the components of organizational culture as per Jabbour and Santos [35].

We did not consider in our work the argument of Sok et al. [86], related to employees that perceive their employers that assist them in balancing work and family obligations as more helpful, and they will be more inclined to respond positively to the job and firm. Third, our study did not explicitly evaluate social exchange perceptions; this could provide more relevant insights into the GHRM field.

According to Ghouri et al. [47], future research should analyze pro-environmental principles, convictions, and activities detailing the image of the green corporate culture. The role of EGC in encouraging voluntary green behavior in the workplace should be explored further.

In conclusion, environmental management is critical in how GHRM practices influence employee behavior. Such influential variables are communicated via perceived job influence, implying that job impacts and discernment issues are critical to developing effective GHRM tactics. Consequently, managers must evaluate the impact of these green practices on the affective commitment of employees and the development of their green skills.

Our results are limited to single-level analysis, and a multi-level evaluation of other probable mediators of the GHRM and SOP relationship might be beneficial. We will consider additional potential mediators, such as environmental values, organizational identification, and/or job feedback.