PurposeThis study aims to delineate the fast-growing path of human resource management (HRM) research with a sustainable orientation and resolve confusion over the differences and interdependences of the various approaches that have emerged: green human resource management (GHRM), sustainable human resource management (Sustainable HRM), and socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM).Design/methodology/approachIn this study, bibliometrics and science mapping were used to analyze the field's conceptual structure based on 587 related documents extracted from the ISI Web of Science database. Co-word analysis with SciMAT software enabled the authors to map the main themes studied and identify evolution, importance, and relevance.FindingsSR-HRM is the least developed of the three approaches analyzed and has been overlooked by the journals that publish the most work in the field of HR. The authors identify a lack of sustainability-related HRM studies on higher education and an ongoing need both to explore the role of culture in GHRM implementation and to explain further the potential non-green behavioral outcomes that can result from GHRM's use.Practical implicationsThis study demonstrates how human resource factors are key to managing challenges such as aging workforce, unstable employment relationships, implementation of green supply chain management, and Industry 4.0.Originality/valueThis study explores in detail the interrelations among various emerging sustainable human resource approaches and subtopics derived from the interrelations to reveal hotspots, dilemmas, paradoxes, and research gaps.

Green human resource management (GHRM) is a crucial element of the globally trending topic of green management. Although GHRM has received considerable research attention in recent years, confusion remains regarding its antecedents, the social, and psychological processes through which GHRM influences employee behavior, and the potential outcomes to be derived from its use. This paper aims to disentangle and summarize the components that have been explored in the GHRM-performance relationship. To achieve these goals, we conduct a systematic review based on the preferred reporting items method and then present a series of theoretical approaches to stimulate new debates on theory building and its subsequent use in GHRM research. We also carefully explain information on organizational and employee-level factors that motivate and hinder GHRM and display this information in a visual framework. The implications for practice provide focused recommendations to help managers understand how to create favorable conditions for enhancing sustainability performance. The gaps identified should open the way to new lines of research that still need attention.

RESUMO A gestão de recursos humanos verde (GRHV) é um elemento crucial do tópico de tendências globais da gestão verde. Embora a GRHV tenha recebido bastante atenção da academia nos últimos anos, há ainda alguma confusão em relação a seus antecedentes, aos processos sociais e psicológicos por meio dos quais a GRHV influencia o comportamento dos empregados e aos potenciais resultados observados a partir sua utilização. O presente artigo tem como objetivo esclarecer e oferecer um resumo dos componentes que têm sido explorados na relação entre a GRHV e o desempenho das organizações. Para atingir estes objetivos, realizamos uma revisão sistemática com base no método dos principais itens para relatar (PRISMA). Ainda, foi apresentada uma série de abordagens teóricas para estimular novos debates sobre a construção de teorias e a sua consequente utilização na investigação da GRHV. O estudo explica os fatores que motivam e dificultam a GRHV em nível organizacional e dos empregados, apresentando-os num quadro visual. As implicações da pesquisa para a prática levam a recomendações focalizadas para ajudar os gestores a compreender como criar condições que possibilitam melhorar o desempenho do ponto de vista da sustentabilidade. Por fim, foram identificadas lacunas que precisam de atenção e devem abrir caminho a novas linhas de investigação.