The purpose of this study is to emphasize the importance of green human resource management and to present a theoretical framework for a business model that would assist SMEs in achieving green performance and building a sustainable, resilient, and agile ecosystem. The examined sample contains 368 relevant studies published between 2011 and 2022. These publications were produced by 690 people and received an average of 6.706 citations. Most of the authors (97.1% of the total) are part of multi-authored research (670 authors), while single-authored studies account for just 2.9% of the total (20 authors).
4.3. Most Influential Journals, Institutions, Authors, and Documents
Table 3 lists the journals that published the most papers on green human resource management and its impact on SMEs between 2011 and 2022. From 2011 to 2022, the “
Journal of Cleaner Production” and “
Sustainability,” two frontier journals with the most papers published in the study area (26) each, had a significant impact on the corpus of knowledge on green human resource management. With 15 articles, the magazine “
Business Strategy and the Environment” came in second, while the “
International Journal of Manpower” came in third with 12 published scientific studies. Furthermore, the journal “
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management” has published eight papers in the topic under investigation. Finally, by publishing seven papers on green human resource management, the “
International Journal of Human Resource Management” rounded out the top five research-related publications. Scopus, Scimago, and ABS List have indexed many of the most widely read papers on green human resource management and its impact on SMEs’ long-term success.
Table 4 presents the most significant affiliations for disseminating research on green human resource management and its contribution to developing employee environmental consciousness, which can contribute to improved long-term performance of SMEs. The top five institutions, which account for the vast bulk of research-related publications, have offices in a variety of places. China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University has published the most (16 research publications) about green human resource management. Montpellier Business School, and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu are rated second and third, respectively, with twelve published articles. The University of Otago is ranked third, with the most relevant affiliations in the topic field. However, the majority of the most relevant affiliations for the current study’s research subject are Malaysian. This is due to the fact that many corporations have relocated their operations to Malaysia, which has the potential to break through barriers. As a result, human resources are one of Malaysia’s industries with the most continuous development. Actually, it provides a wide range of job opportunities each year. Moreover, human resource programs in Malaysia provide training and development courses to help employees prepare for a career in this dynamic, people-focused industry. Malaysia, with thirteen states and three federal territories, is also a cultural melting pot. It has proved to the rest of the world that it is an accurate picture of all races and ethnic groups coexisting together in a multicultural setting. As a result, researchers and scholars from Malaysian universities are interested in researching disciplines that will assist employees in SMEs in finding numerous career paths and professional positions as well as increasing their environmental consciousness via green human resource management.
Based on the results of the bibliometric study of the most influential authors in the research field,
Table 5 displays the authors with the greatest effect on the research community of the researched topic area. The third column of
Table 5 displays the measure of articles fractionalized by individual authors, which shows the percentage of their co-authored publications. Jabbour C.J. is the most influential author in the subject field, according to
Table 5, followed by Guerci M. Jabbour Cjc’s scholarly paper, “Green Human Resource Management and Green Supply Chain Management: Linking Two Emerging Agendas;” this is one of the most significant in the field of green human resource management. This is the first time that a scientific paper has integrated research trends, such as green human resource management and operational management, in human resource management.
Finally,
Table 6 summarizes the most important scientific papers on green human resource management and its impact on the promotion of environmental consciousness among SME employees. The following table contains scientific publications based on both qualitative and quantitative research. Some of the most prominent scholarly publications focus on the sustainability pillar and its influence on human resource management. Furthermore, there are articles that support the assumption that the green human resource management model is at the top of business agendas, while others investigate employee attitudes toward sustainability and their desire to implement green practices. However, neither study has addressed the relevance of green human resource management in SMEs or the establishment of a business model that would aid SME employees in developing their environmental awareness and implementing green strategies.
4.4. Network, Content, and Cluster Analysis
The visualization of the relationship between authors, countries, and keywords can provide unique insights into the scientific community.
Figure 3 shows a three-field plot, also known as Sankey diagram, that displays the interaction between the most relevant authors (left), nations (middle), and keywords (right) in the research area of green human resource management. Malaysian scholars, according to the findings, are primarily concerned with issues such as green human resource management and sustainability. Additionally, Chinese academics appear to be experts in green human resource management, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. The Chinese economy is rapidly developing, with far-reaching environmental consequences. As a result, scholarly interest in the investigated subject has grown.
Furthermore,
Figure 4 depicts the authors’ geographical collaboration in the study disciplines of information management and big data analytics. This scientific collaboration was exhibited utilizing the program Bibliometrix, often known as Biblioshiny. The purpose of this geographical collaboration study is to show the social structure of the research community on the topic at hand. The network’s nodes represent the writers, while the links indicate their collaboration. According to the map, Europe is the birthplace of the great majority of scientific collaborations in the sector. Europe, India, and Australia are linked via the most dependable scientific channel. Scholars from Latin America and Europe have also established significant scientific links. The British, in particular, are linked with experts in Latin America, India, and China in green human resource management and its contribution to the promotion of environmental consciousness among employees in SMEs. Furthermore, the bibliographic coupling map, which is provided in
Figure 5, validates the academics’ collaboration.
Keyword analysis, an important component of network analysis, is a helpful method that delivers insightful information for a research area. Keyword analysis is used to district the research trends within a study field.
Figure 6 illustrates a network representation based on the co-occurrences of the authors’ keywords. The co-occurrence of authors’ keywords was displayed with the use of VOSviewer. This software aids in the mapping of the bibliometric network. Each circle in the graph indicates a co-occurrence case. The wider the circle, the more frequently the terms appear together. The circles of the same color indicate a cluster of keywords, and the lines connecting the circles reflect the keywords’ association. There were 72 keywords that appeared and were classified into 5 clusters. Cluster 1 (red color) relates to “Environmental management and green human resource management”. This relationship indicates that HR management should be a fundamental pillar of activity for environmental management by combining organizational and HR development [
52,
53]. In this point, managers must play a critical role in winning over employees’ hearts and minds when it comes to environmental sustainability goals. Green mentoring, green coaching, and green cross-organizational networking are some of the most important strategies of green human resource management. To prevent the hazards of unconscious prejudice, training in environmental management or in the production of creative ideas is also encouraged, as is fostering information transfer across employees. Cluster 2 (green color) is related to the topic of “Green human resource management sustainability”, which highlights the way that SMEs can achieve sustainable HR. Moreover, sustainable green human resource management practices enable an organization’s internal and external stakeholders to meet their financial, social, and environmental goals. Furthermore, sustainable approaches can avoid unexpected repercussions and negative feedback, while aiming for outcomes that match stakeholders’ expectations. The third cluster (purple color) relates to “Green human resource management and environmental performance”. For example, employee training is crucial for equipping them with the knowledge and skills required to make educated decisions regarding green HRM practices. As a result, they will be inspired to apply green HRM practices. Moreover, green HRM practices include another critical component: green training and development. The process of preparing multi-talented persons to enhance the teaching required for innovations is known as training. Green HRM techniques involve providing personnel with fundamental competencies such as educating them on how to collect waste information and raising the company’s efficiency and environmental competency standards. Employees’ desire to participate in environmentally friendly activities requires environmental education. Training may assist employees in learning about different issues and challenges in the workplace, enhancing and improving their talents, and motivating them to complete their activity [
54,
55]. Thus, the above shows a direct relationship between practices of green human resource management, such as green training, and the enhancement of environmental performance. Cluster 4 (blue color) refers to the motivations that can help employees increase their awareness regarding the environment and the practices of green human resource management. The cluster indicates the importance of “green creativity in the workplace for achieving human resources management practices" [
56]. The association among GHRM and environmental performance has been clearly described previously. The current study highlights another crucial issue related to that of green human resource management practices; it involves the motivations that can be offered by SMEs to help employees focus more on the adoption of green human resource management strategies. One important factor is to increase “Green creativity” of the human resource [
57,
58,
59]. Green creativity can be understood as the innovative ideas necessary for the development of environmentally friendly goods, services, and processes. SMEs can follow strategies that help push more GHRM to foster and encourage green creativity [
60]. Finally, cluster 5 (yellow color) is related to the method that experts in the field use to approach and investigate the research area of green human resource management and SMEs. Findings highlight the bibliometric analysis as the core methodology to adopt the studied field of green human resources and sustainable management.
Even though green human resource management methods are connected with pro-environmental behavior, environmental management, and sustainability, the theme map (
Figure 7) demonstrates new study opportunities in the field. A thematic map of authors’ keywords illustrates the study subjects produced from the conceptual structure of the documents included in the Bibliometrix analysis. The map is divided into four quadrants, each indicating a distinct study topic linked to the issue under consideration. The cluster sizes represent the proportion of words. The density and centrality dimensions are utilized as the primary criterion in the thematic map to categorize the many subjects that developed. The density dimension represents the level of development of each subject as evaluated by internal links between the authors’ keywords. The second dimension, centrality, defines the importance of each subject as determined by the external relationships between the writers’ keywords. The thematic map is divided into four quadrants, as previously stated: (i) The motor themes are depicted in the upper-right quadrant and are distinguished by both high density and centrality; (ii) The basic themes are depicted in the lower-right quadrant and are distinguished by high centrality but low density; (iii) The niche themes are depicted in the upper-left quadrant and are distinguished by high centrality but low density; (iv) The emerging themes are placed in the upper-left quadrant and are themes that are characterized by both high density and high centrality [
30,
61].
Among the issues that emerged from each quadrant, green competencies attract the most interest and is categorized as a niche theme in the thematic map. The general meaning of the term competencies is that competencies indicate the actions and attitudes that employees require to perform their duties effectively. On the other hand, the term professional competencies, includes personal qualities and circumstances, actions, knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and beliefs. However, SMEs should respond to current difficulties in a proactive and methodical manner and have a variety of green measures in place to raise employees’ pro-environmental understanding and capabilities [
62,
63]. Furthermore, human attitudes and beliefs are critical factors influencing green competence. There are four types of green competencies: natural, learned, adaptive, and performance. Natural green competences are characteristics and beliefs created throughout a person’s formative years, whereas acquired green competencies represent green knowledge gained through experience [
64]. According to experts in the field of green competencies, employees acquired green competences have contributed to the integration of pro-environmental thinking into firms’ human resource activities. The combination of innate and learned green competences results in effective green competencies that are required for environmental performance. Therefore, green human resource management might benefit from assessing green behavior to identify employees’ green performance, which is a combination of innate, learned, and adaptable competencies [
3]. Green competencies are crucial, but so is a desire to assist the environment attain environmental performance.
Additionally, emerging themes underline the need for enhancing SME employee green behavior using several means. Green knowledge exchange has evolved as one of the most critical components of green human resource management approaches employed by SMEs. The process of transferring or sharing green knowledge among colleagues, competitors, suppliers, or other stakeholders in order to develop new strategies and methods, technologies, tools, and techniques that effectively offset or mitigate the negative effects of business activities on the natural environment is known as green knowledge sharing. [
65,
66]. Green knowledge sharing refers to the incorporation of new green information into decision making, product development, or service delivery. SMEs strive to incorporate eco-friendly technology and practices into their operations through “green knowledge” applications in order to achieve zero or minimal environmental impact [
66,
67]. By introducing unique and creative ideas, processes, and technology, green expertise may help SMEs obtain a competitive advantage. The process of transferring or sharing green knowledge among colleagues, competitors, suppliers, or other stakeholders in order to develop new strategies and methods, technologies, tools, and techniques that effectively offset or mitigate the negative effects of business activities on the natural environment is known as green knowledge sharing [
66,
68]. Green knowledge sharing involves incorporating innovative green knowledge into decision making, product development, or service delivery. To achieve zero or low environmental effect, SMEs attempt to incorporate eco-friendly technologies and practices into their operations through “green knowledge” applications. Green expertise may help SMEs gain a competitive advantage by bringing innovative and creative ideas, methods, and technology.
Furthermore, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) reveals a novel link that may aid SMEs’ implementation of green human resource management strategies (
Figure 8). Starting with the significance of MCA, the technique is a matrix that combines co-word analysis with a two-dimensional map of the most cited terms. The MCA technique categorizes the keywords of the recoverable scientific documents based on the frequency of each keyword and the joint reference of the keywords in each recovered document. The MCA approach produces data that may be analyzed in terms of point placements and distribution along each dimension. As a result, the closer the words are depicted on the MCA map, the more similar their distributions are. The map shows two clusters. The first cluster (red) illustrates the issues that have already been discussed in the literature, while the second cluster (blue) indicates the gap in the literature. Specifically, the cluster in blue depicts the connection between organizational citizenship and the behavior of the environment; this can lead to a new term, that of green organizational citizenship. Green organizational citizenship behaviors include the individual discretionary activities that enhance green organizational environmental management and green human resource management but are not explicitly rewarded. This category of green behaviors is additional environmental protection-related services provided by employees on their own initiative outside of the workplace’s expectations. According to prior studies, green HRM practices have a considerable impact on employee performance. Previous research found that employee behaviors and competencies improve company effectiveness [
13]. However, individualistic green organizational citizenship behavior can evolve into a self-motivated conduct that emerges naturally within the employee [
5,
47,
69]. Employees are encouraged to participate in green activities by adopting green habits and fostering a culture of green corporate citizenship among them. Therefore, green organizational citizenship behavior is heavily reliant on an individualized approach [
69].