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Fostering Employee Green Behavior through Green Human Resource Management Practices: A Conceptual Framework for the Islamic Banking Sector in Malaysia

Authors

Nadzirah Nasir

Faculty of Business, UNITAR University College Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Najihah Binti Mohammad Yusoff

Faculty of Education and Humanities, UNITAR University College Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Article Information

DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS.2026.100900099

Subject Category: Management

Volume/Issue: 10/9 | Page No: 1468-1484

Publication Timeline

Submitted: 2026-08-13

Accepted: 2026-08-18

Published: 2026-10-01

Abstract

Climate change and resource depletion have made environmental sustainability a strategic imperative for organizations worldwide, and the financial sector, despite its comparatively modest direct environmental footprint, is increasingly expected to model responsible practice. This paper develops and justifies a conceptual research framework that examines how Green Human Resource Management Practices (GHRMP) translate three antecedent factors, namely employee green culture, ethical leadership, and environmental knowledge, into employee green behavior (EGB) within Bank Islam Malaysia, a leading Islamic financial institution. Grounded in Social Exchange Theory and the Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior model, the framework proposes that GHRMP mediates the relationships between the three antecedents and EGB. A quantitative, positivist, cross-sectional research design is proposed, in which data will be collected from a stratified random sample of employees using a validated seven-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The paper details the theoretical justification for each hypothesized path, operationalizes all constructs, and specifies the measurement and structural model evaluation criteria that will be used to test the framework empirically in subsequent research. By integrating Islamic ethical principles with established green human resource management theory, the study is expected to extend GHRM scholarship beyond its current concentration in manufacturing, hospitality, and higher-education contexts into Islamic banking, and to offer actionable guidance for strengthening environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance in the Malaysian financial sector. The anticipated results are positive direct effects of employee green culture, ethical leadership, and environmental knowledge on EGB, together with significant indirect effects through GHRMP, confirming GHRMP as the framework's central organizational mechanism.

Keywords

green human resource management; employee green behavior; ethical leadership; environmental knowledge; Islamic banking

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References

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