Green human resource management and organisational responsible performance: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Organisations are under increasing pressure today to provide proof of responsible performance in environmental, social, ethical, operational, customer, and financial facets. Despite the huge research effort on Green Human Resource Management (GHRM), existing reviews still focus on either environmental or employee outcomes and have not yet appeared to derive a multifaceted insight into the way in which GHRM helps to enhance the responsible performance of the enterprise. To fill this gap, we performed a PRISMA-based systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis using the Scopus database of publications from the year 2020–2025. The findings illustrate a change beginning after 2023 that compels us to have management accountable for ESG to incorporate sustainability across organisations and a strategic environmental focus. This study finds that GHRM improves environmental performance, responsible employee engagement, corporate social responsibility, ethical climate, responsible operational activities, responsibility-driven customer satisfaction, and ethically grounded long-term financial performance. This review advances the understanding of GHRM's role in enhancing organisational responsibility by synthesising fragmented findings, specifying the boundaries of responsible performance, and linking theory-grounded mechanisms using AMO, SET, RBV, Stakeholder Theory, CSR Theory, and Knowledge-Based View. Finally, future directions are highlighted for further research, including cross-country comparative studies, digital GHRM, SMEs, and multi-dimensional frameworks for the measurement of responsible performance.