Research Advances on Green Human Resources Management: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis from 2004-2023

1. Introduction

The concept of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) emerged in response to escalating concerns regarding the environment. The existing state of the world economy is characterized by unprecedented turbulence, exacerbated by the effects of climate change and frequent political changes across the globe, which have significant repercussions on the business world. In this topsy-turvy environment, noticeable employee attrition, retention, and protean career attitudes have become important factors to address across all sectors. Moreover, GHRM plays a vital role in attracting and retaining environmentally conscious employees. By aligning the organization's values with those of prospective employees, GHRM helps build a strong employee-employer brand, making the organization a preferred choice for top talent in the industry. This, in turn, can lead to reduced recruitment costs and increased operational efficiency.

Green HRM is a comparatively new concept, originated by Wehrmeyer in 1996, who contributed a novel concept in his edited book “greening people: human resources and environmental management” [1] He opines that employees of any organization are vital to its growth or failure, condition. Businesses can only move towards sustainable industrial development through employees’ energy, performance and personal commitment. Academicians and industry scientists gradually emphasize Green HRM [2,3,4,5]. Jackson (2010) observes that HRM receives very little scholarship in adding value to achieve environmental sustainability [6]. According to Renwick et al. (2008), the HR department may significantly contribute to the implementation of environmentally friendly policies [7].

A green HRM umbrella becomes more valuable to the environment and advances HRM's role in aiding sustainability (Kramar, 2014) [8]. Zoogah, et.al. (2011) discovered a good and strong association between GHRM practices and environmental performance. [9]. Green HRM is connected to the “systemic, planned alignment of typical HRM practices with the organizations’ environmental goals” (Jabbour 2013). [10]. A triple-bottom-line approach was emphasised to focus on organizations’ environment, social and economic performance for the sustainability of business. [11,12,13,14]. A similar interpretation of Ghrm is also there with further value addition to the approach, such as innovation, cultural diversity, and the environment [15].

Two major strategies are advised for the future environment: the development of an integrative vision of the entire urban social-ecological ecosystem and the development of adaptive governance institutions to enable practical management. (Borgstrom et.al 2006). [16]. Rockstrom et.al (2014) emphasize Ghrm in the context of the global hydrological cycle and the role of water in global sustainability. [17]. Gupta, (2015) aims to present a process model of HR processes in Green HRM and investigates the Green HRM initiatives. [18]. Zibarras et al (2015) try to promote HRM practices as pro-environmental behaviour in 214 UK organizations. [19].

John et.al, (2016) emphasise the environment and reveal that the ocean plays a pivotal role in offering potential resources which can affect food security and human well-being. [20]. A positive relationship has been shown between GHRM and voluntary behaviour mediated by employee commitment to environmental change [21]. GHRM focuses on developing an environmentally sound workforce that is committed to environmental issues [22]. Ghrm is “the triggering force of human resource implementations that improves both the economic and environmental sustainability of business resources by undertaking change and developing environmental conditions” (Masood, 2018) [23].

Researchers focus on quantifying the street greenery in an urban area using the road parameters and green view index (GVI) and image segmentation found low-value clusters within the third ring road and higher values outside. It also reveals that wider, minor, and longer roads tend to have higher GVI values [24,25]. Leidner et al(2019) focuses on land use/land cover changes (LULCC) and their relationship with ecological processes, socioeconomic influences, and human activities in China and found that different patterns of land use change, emphasizing ecological restoration and urbanization, aligning with China's Grain for Green Program. [26]. Chang et al (2019) opine that green supply chain management can be effective if we eliminate unnecessary healthcare waste in hospitals, improving healthcare quality [27].

Yost et.al. (2020) emphasises on Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP) leverage of the simultaneous participation in another payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in China [28]. Ribeiro et al (2022) find that ‘eco-friendly behaviour’ is a mediating factor of green human resource management and organizational identification in tourism organizations [29]. Rehman et.al (2021) demonstrate environmental strategies that directly impact environmental performance and also play a moderating factor in green innovation (GI) and environmental performance [30]. Vollmer et.al (2022) explain some of the existing challenges to water resources management, such as understanding the concept of ecosystem services, communicating with stakeholders, involving stakeholders in researching multiple values, valuation methods of water-related services and applications of decision-support tools[31].

There is a direct influence of green hrm on potential employees' perceived green task-related and voluntary behaviour, as well as an indirect influence and mediation via 'psychological green climate perception [32]. Sun et.al (2022) find that environmental performance and green transformational leadership are positively correlated [33]. Green high-performance work systems enable the development of green ambidexterity, which improves environmental performance [34]. Underpinned by Social Identity Theory (SIT), Green Human Resource Management (HRM) aims to maximize the potential of green behaviours to improve employee outcomes [35]. Soomro et al. (2021) find the relationship between labour productivity, environmental impact, and the importance of human resource management in the green economy. [36]. According to Iftikhar et al. (2021), employee environmental commitment mediates the association between green HRM practices and green service recovery performance [37].

Zhang et al (2023) analyse the relationship between urban green space construction and bird diversity. The review highlights research hotspots, historical trends, and frontiers in the field of landscape architecture and bird diversity. [38]. Bahuguna et al, (2023) consider how GHRM methods can be expanded to industrial relations, which are currently limited to a few HR procedures such as hiring, training, and reward. in limited organisations, basically in developed countries. [39]. Green supply chain management and health and safety practices can help organizations achieve sustainable performance (Maskuroh, et al. 2023). [40].

Freire et.al (2022) discover the function of job satisfaction as a moderator between green HRM and organizational citizenship behaviour, emphasizing the importance of examining individual effects in a green HRM system [41]. GHRM is a crucial tool for motivating and training employees, which eventually boosts staff efficiency [42]. The results of Khaskhely et al.'s study (2022) confirm the positive influence that GHRM and dynamic sustainable capabilities have on sustainable performance when it comes to macro-level components. It contributes to the literature by exploring the interplay between these factors [43].

The direct impact of Green HRM on consumer behaviour is highlighted, as is the moderating role of uncertainty in the relationship between Green HRM, employee performance, and eco-friendly behaviour. Future research could concentrate on other industries such as textiles and banking [44]. Awwad et al. (2022) corroborate the strong influence of green innovation on sustainable performance and emphasize the importance of green innovation in mediating the relationship between green HR practices and sustainable performance in SMEs [45]. GHRM, particularly green rewards, remuneration, and training has a substantial correlation with organizational performance, which is mediated through human capital [46].

Green transformational leadership positively promotes employee green creativity. Green process involvement and transformational leadership are moderated by the green innovation approach (Sidney et al. 2022) [47]. Burlea et al. (2022) demonstrate that GHRM has a strong positive influence on organizational performance (OP) and gives practical guidelines for managers in the tobacco sector to improve organizational culture and promote employee green behaviour for enhanced sustainability [48].

2. Materials and Methods

The current study is organized as a bibliometric analysis based on the Scopus database published within 20 years, from 2004 to 2023. The keyword “green human resource management” was used as search criteria for the related articles. This database was selected because it has a wider coverage of superior journals that meet the scientific community's quality requirements. But for the literature review, Google Scholar was also used in addition to Scopus papers. The research analysis is based on a process of finding, organizing, and analyzing the major components of a specific field (Cobo, 2011) [49].

The search filter for this study was used to get only such articles that restricted the words “green human resource management” in either their title or keywords or abstract. Finally, 551 research papers were inferred after limiting to the area of study, year of publication, document type and language (English). The data was visualised, mapped and analysed.

The data interpretation was done on the basis of year-wise growth of publication, journal with the most prolific publication, utmost cited papers, most prolific authors, countries and institutions, collaboration of countries and maximum occurrences of keywords. Figure 1. Represents the ladder used in methodology to search the articles, data visualization and mapping.

In accordance with earlier bibliometric research (Khan and Mukhtar, 2020; Bahuguna et al, 2023), the bibliographic search was conducted in June 2023, encompassing a time span of two decades. [5,39]. The analysis was enabled with the software VOSveiwer1.6.19. It is a tool to create, visualise and explore maps, based on network data.

3. Results

3.1. Evolution of Scientific Output Based on Scopus

This section presents the scientific output in the area of green human resource management for 20 years. Initially, 1047 papers were found, further, it was limited to 551 on the basis of year, subject area, document type and language. The most prolific authors with the number of articles, countries, citations and journals are reflected in Table 1.

The above data represent the scientific publications on GHRM which clearly indicate an increasing trend during the study period. In the quarter (2004-2008), only 6(1.08%) articles have been published and then increased to 21(3.81%) in the next five years (2009-2013). Further in 2014-2018 and 2019-2023, it increased dramatically to 103(18.69%) and 412 (74.77%) respectively. There is a spectacular rise of 51.18% in article publications in the last five years with respect to the previous 15 years. Thus the exponential growth in the number of papers, authors, countries and citations published during the last 20 years (2004-2023) is shown in Figure 2.

From 2004, the growth slope rises slowly, but in 2014-2018, it rose noticeably and further in 2019-2023, it increases radically. It depicts that organizations become more conscious during the last decade to reduce the cost and carbon from the surroundings through the implementation of GHRM. As awareness and implementation increase, scientist tries to study its effects more (Kramar, 2014; Zoogah, et.al.2011; Ribeiro et al 2022; Rehman et.al (2021) [8,9,29,30].

3.2. Analysis of Scientific Productions by Productivity of Journals, Country and Institutions

3.2.1. Productivity of Journals

Table 2 depicts the classification of the top 20 most productive journals filtered from 140 journals on green human resource management in the period 2004-2023. It is observed that in the initial two quarters, the publications were negligible. Only 0.3% has been published in the first quartile (Q1), 1.52% in Q2, and 16.46% in Q3 & the highest publications in the area of GHRM is 81.7% (Q4). It shows that in the last five years, there is a phenomenal rise in publications in the area of GHRM. However, the top 20 journals reflect 328 articles (59.52% of the total), which shows massive acceptance across the world. Further, there is a wide circulation of knowledge in the world aiming towards cost-effectiveness in general and to make the environment more sustainable in particular.

It is observed that the journal, “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” has the highest number of publications (94) related to Green HRM followed by “Sustainability’ (79) documents. The third-ranking journal, “Journal of Cleaner Production” (18) has the highest citation, 1513 and the highest H-Index, 268, while “Sustainability” has the second highest citation, 1340. But the seventeenth-ranked journal “Resources, Conservation and Recycling” bags the highest impact factor (13.716) and the highest average citations (167.2%) with five documents on “GHRM” belong to the country Netherlands, while the lowest average citations (0.3%) held by “Journal of Environmental and Public Health” with 10 documents, belong to Egypt. The Journal “Water (Switzerland)” has published the lowest number of documents (4) with average citations (3.5%) within the current study framework.

The first article support to Ghrm was published by “Ecological Applications” in 2007. It is observed that only this journal produced first a single paper (within Scopus data) related to GHRM in the first quarter, of 2004-2008 among the above top twenty ranking journals in the area. In the second quarter, 2009-2013, five different journals [Sustainability (Switzerland), Journal of Environmental Management, Environmental Management, Ecological Applications, and Water SA)] have produced a single paper each too. The third quarter, 2014-2018 have accounted for 44 papers and the maximum papers (268) were produced in the last quarter, 2019-2013.

It is detected in Table 2 and Figure 3, that even the first-ranking journal has not produced any paper in the first two quarters. But there is massive production of articles in the last five years, Out of a total of 94 documents, 10 are in the third quarter and 84 are in the fourth, 2019-2023. It clearly shows that there is a growing awareness among researchers, academicians and industry personnel towards Green human resource management in the current era.

3.2.2. Productivity of Countries

All the research papers in the current study belong to their respective authors from 93 different countries. Figure 4 highlight the top ten most Prolific countries with the highest number of publications and citations on green human resource management.

It is observed that China is the most productive country with a total of 167 papers on green human resource management during the period 2004-2023, followed by the United Kingdom (76) and the United States (73). As per the Scopus database, mostly the papers by China and the United Kingdom were published during the year 2011 to 2023. But the United States has started working on papers since 2005 by Pease et al. The highest number of citations has been obtained by the United Kingdom with 4372, followed by China (2617) and the United States (2368).

Pakistan has fairly contributed papers (51) with 561 citations. Malaysia, Spain and Italy are the next top countries producing 37, 26 and 24 papers respectively with citations of 563, 1004 and 1612. From the bottom three countries in the list, France, and Australia have contributed 23 papers each obtaining 1610 and 943 citations respectively whereas Indonesia holds the tenth position with 22 papers and 276 citations. It is worth noticing that out of 551 papers in the study, more than half, that is, a total of 404 (73.32%) papers are contributed by the authors of the top five countries.

3.2.3. Productivity of Institutions

The productivity of the top ten most prolific institutions with the number of documents and citations is shown in Figure 5. As green human resource management is comparatively a new concept, the number of articles produced is very less.

As observed in Figure 5, Jiangsu University, China, has produced the maximum number of papers on green HRM totalling 5 papers with 95 citations. The second-ranked institution is Shandong University, China, with 4 documents and with 137 citations during 2018-2023. Prior to 2018, they did not have any paper on Ghrm. Further, the Abu Dhabi University (UAE) and School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology (China), hold fourth and fifth ranks accounting for 3 publications each with 715 (238.3% average citations) and 136 (45.3% average citations) citations respectively.

The University of Sheffield, UK records the highest citation, that is, 829 (414.5% average citations) on Green HRM followed by Adnan Kassar School of Business, Lebanese American University, (305.5%) with 2 documents each while Jiangsu University is the one with the lowest average number of citations per article (19.0) although it has produced the highest number of papers in GHRM.

3.3. Most Prolific Authors, Country, Number of Documents with Highest Citations and Keywords

3.3.1. Most Prolific Authors

As shown in Table 3, the data inferred from the VOSviewer software shows the most prolific authors contributing the maximum number of documents in the Scopus dataset in the last 20 years, on ‘green human resource management’. Out of the 2008 authors, 19 meet the thresholds from which the top 12 authors were considered. Initially, a list of the top authors was prepared with the highest number of publications and citations. Then their affiliation country was found out and observed that more articles are produced in China on ‘green human resource management’.

It is also witnessed that Li X. and Zhang Y., both have produced nine documents each with 189 and 186 citations respectively [38,50]. Furthermore, researchers such as Liu J. with eight documents, Chen Y. and Wang J. have contributed seven articles each and both of them belong to China [51,52,53]. Our findings emphasize the benefits of integrated green innovation networks and provide theoretical references and advice for businesses considering network membership.

Jabbour c.j.c holds the sixth rank but has collaborated with many co-authors in different papers at different times [54]. They emphasised how the entrenched nature of GHRM in workplaces contributes to national culture and stakeholder theories. They viewed that there is a “soft and human” side of the HR aspect, which is environmentally sustainable for the organizations, but a blossoming management subfield is GHRM which concerns the alliance of people and the environmental objectives of management. Figure 6 represents the most prolific authors with the number of documents, countries and citations.

Liu H. co-authored with Zhao J. and Sun W. (2018) has shown research interest in green creativity; ecosystem services; urban ecological infrastructure [55]. He experimented with discretionary slack and found out that GHRM can promote firms' environmental reputation. Zhang X. co-authored with Shen Y. viewed that the generalised environmental tax has a significant and positive effect on the industrial green transformation [56].

3.4. Keywords Network Analysis and Co-Occurrences

3.4.1. All Keywords Co-Occurrences

The keywords co-occurrences network analysis is conducted to observe all the keywords used in various research papers. This analysis helps to get an idea about which kind of topics, themes, related variables and intentions have been mostly emphasized by the researchers. Keywords co-occurrences network map of ‘all keywords’ which occurred in the different research papers on ‘green human resource management’ is shown in Figure 7.

In Figure 7, out of 551 articles on ‘Ghrm’, published during 2004-2023, of the 4444 ‘all keywords’, 350 meet the threshold keeping 5 as the minimum number of occurrences. The text-mining routine creates a map using VOSviewer, where the distance between different terms is construed as an indication of the connection among the various keywords (Laudano et al., 2018). [57]. The major author keywords are presented in Table 4.

3.4.2. Author Keywords Co-Occurrences

Above Table 4 depicts the top fifty ‘author keywords’ which appeared the maximum number of times in the Scopus dataset having the greatest significance by the authors. The most frequent keyword is ‘green human resource management’, showing 66 times of occurrences, followed by ‘sustainability’, 50 times. Many other similar keywords also occurred in the dataset which was similar to ‘green human resource management’, such as ‘Green HRM’, ‘Ghrm’, ‘Green Human resource management (ghrm)’ and ‘Green Human resource practices’. Other important keywords are ‘Sustainable development’, ‘Environmental management’, ‘Green supply chain management’, ‘Green infrastructure’, ‘Green training’ etc.

The ‘author keywords’ co-occurrences network map is shown in Figure 8 highlighting the keywords related to ‘green human resource management’.

Figure 8 map is based on VOSviewer 1.6.19 which shows the various keywords that co-occurred in the papers related to “green human resource management”. Employees are the backbone of an organization [58]. The other important keywords are employee green behaviour, green intellectual capital, biodiversity, green recruitment and selection and corporate social responsibility etc.

3.4.3. Index Keywords Co-Occurrences

The most occurred index keyword network map is presented in Figure 9. As per VOSviewer dataset, from 2965 index keywords 297 meet the threshold where the minimum number of occurrences is five. It also projects that keyword linkage is done through different lines.

According to Figure 13, few keywords have co-occurred predominantly as ‘human’ has co-occurred 174 times, ‘humans’ 108 times, ‘article’ 168 times, ‘environmental protection’ 110 times, ‘sustainable development 99 times, ‘conservation of natural resources 96 times etc. More number of occurrences represents more possibility of research in the area.

3.5. Most Cited Papers with Title, Authors and Year of Publication

Focusing on the Scopus database, the top twenty most cited papers are presented in Table 5. The rank one paper accumulating 795 citations is ‘Green Human Resource Management: A Review and Research Agenda’ (Renwick et al., 2013) [59]. This research focuses on the integration of environmental management and human resource management. The second most cited article contributed by Kalmykova et.al (2018) having 625 citations, projects the theories and tools of circular economy (CE). They have developed two strategies: ‘CE Strategies Database’ and ‘CE Implementation Database’. The former adds value for the recovery and use of the products but the latter point towards solutions which are readily available in the market [60].

The third highly cited article contributed by Rost et.al, (2008) has 589 citations and reflects the global assumption of “blue” and “green” water by agriculture and terrestrial ecosystems. They view that almost half of the irrigation water stemmed from nonrenewable and nonlocal sources and presently land cover conversion reduces global evapotranspiration [61]. Further, the fourth-ranked paper with 514 citations examines the mediating role of green HRM practices between green transformational leadership and green innovation, which in turn impacts environmental performance (Singh. et al, 2020) [62].

Then, the next paper contributed by El-Kassar, et.al (2019) with 413 citations tried to find the effect of big data and the moderating role of management commitment and HR practices among green innovation and organizational performance [63]. Jabbour et al (2016) with 373 citations tried to link green human resource management and green supply chain management, [54], Roscoe. et al (2019) earning 255citations, explore the relationship between GHRM practices which enables green organizational culture and the firm’s environmental performance [64].

The eighth article examines the relationship between management practices, ecological consequences and certain social drivers in generating ecosystem services (Anderson et.al, 2007). [65]. Further, The next five papers in the list, have more than 180 citations each, emphasizing the role of HRM systems, stakeholder pressures, green training, and green supply chain practices in achieving environmental sustainability (Jackson et. al, 2010; Teixeira et.al, 2016) [66,67]. Guerci et.al, (2016) found the mediating role of green HRM practices on translating stakeholder pressures and environmental performance [68]. The integration of big data technologies, green supply chain management, and green HR practices enhances sustainable capabilities and firm performance. (Singh et.al, 2019) [69]. Renwick et al (2016) focus on green recruitment competencies, employee participation, and financial performance to promote workplace environmental sustainability. [70].

The fourteenth paper by Pinzone et al (2016) with 183 citations examines the role of “Green” HRM practices in promoting collective engagement and voluntary actions for environmental protection [71]. Further, the fifteenth paper by Zibarra L.D. et al (2015) with 167 citations, found that HRM practices are not used to a great extent to encourage environmental behaviour. [19]. The next paper, by Borgström et.al (2006) with 160 citations, depicts the importance of managing urban green spaces to ensure ecosystem services [17]. Rockström J. et.al, (2014) view that too much use of water resources and the mindset towards land integration and water stewardship are the resilience-based perspectives towards global sustainability[18].

The eighteenth most cited article contributed by Rehman et al. (2021) having 154 citations focuses on understanding the relationship between Green Intellectual capital(GCI), GHRM, Green Innovation(GI) and environmental performance in firms. [31]. John et al (2016) with 148 citations, study the role of greenhouse gases, holistic assessment of the community and biodiversity preservation for managing human resources efficiently [21]. The twentieth-ranked paper contributed by O’Donohue et al (2016) having 142 citations, highlights the value of GHRM as a supportive tool for small firms in meeting environmental sustainability demands with cost-effectiveness [73].

3.6. Countries with Collaborations

Table 6 presents a scenario where UK has the highest collaboration (26 countries) and 4372 (27.45%) citations. The collaboration mainly focuses on five countries (China, US, Malaysia, France, Spain) with 76 documents. Looking from the other aspect the data also depicts the lowest number of collaboration (11 countries) which is in the name of Spain mainly focusing on five (UK, US, Indonesia, Australia, Italy) countries as well with 1004 (6.30%) citations and 26 documents. China holds the next rank in international cooperation, with 23 countries. Finally, France has the highest average number of citations per article with international collaboration (70.0), followed by Italy (67.16), the UK (57.52) and Australia (41.0). The US, Spain and China present a higher average number of citations in domestic publications than international cooperation.

Figure 12 represents the international collaborations map between the leading countries and the collaborated countries that jointly produced a minimum of five papers, on green human resource management. Out of 39 collaborated countries found in VOSviewer, major countries are shown on the map.

Figure 12 depicts the size of bobbles reflect the number of papers published in collaboration with other countries. Basically, the UK, the US and China are the leading countries that worked more on GHRM in cooperation with other countries, whereas Spain (11 papers), Italy (14 papers) and Indonesia (14 documents) are the bottom three countries in the list.

4. Discussion and Conclusions

Green HRM focuses on fostering environmentally friendly workplace behaviours and cost-minimization strategies, leading to a more sustainable organization. Through the use of bibliometric analysis, this study has delved into the advancements and investigations made in the field of green HRM. The Scopus database was utilized to review 551 research papers published between 2004 and 2023.

The eminence of the research is assessed by studying the most prolific author and co-authorship of highly cited research articles, mostly used keywords, country-wise review, organization-wise analysis, research themes, theoretical foundation, publication trend and simple statistics. This article has explored the concept and research advances in green HRM, its objectives and benefits to the business world and society.

As per the Scopus dataset, the first article related to Green HRM has been published in 2004 by Ali and Benjaminsen, in Mountain Research and Development [74]. In the first quarter, only 6 articles (1.08%) are published whereas in the last quarter (2019-2023), 51.18% of articles are published, which shows a phenomenal rise. However, the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” has the highest number of publications (94) and “Journal of Cleaner Production” (18) has the highest number of citations (1513).

Concentrating on the maximum number of articles published, China has topped in producing papers, 167 among 93 total countries. The next prolific countries are the UK (76) and the USA (73) articles respectively. The maximum number of citations has been obtained by the United Kingdom (4372). Considering the institutions, “Jiangsu University”, China, has the maximum number of articles on Green HRM, whereas the “University of Sheffield”, UK records the utmost average citations.

In the current study, it is found that the authors, Li X and Zhang Y have more articles published on GHRM (9 each), Jabbour C.J.C. (France) has more citations (1095) from 6 documents.

The major keywords other than “green human resource management” are “sustainability”, “environmental performance”, “green supply management”, “green infrastructure”, “conservation of natural resources”, “ecosystem services” etc.

The most cited paper is “Green Human Resource Management: A Review and Research Agenda”, contributed by Renwick et. al(2013). In fact, the most collaborated countries are the UK, the USA, China, France and Australia.

This paper contributes to the field of Global Human Resource Management (GHRM) by offering a comprehensive analysis of the existing knowledge. By examining the above key elements, the review enriches the GHRM literature and offers insights into the core areas of research. These inputs allow for a deeper understanding of these core areas and present new directions for future research in GHRM.

The study found that green HRM is particularly significant as organizations face increasing pressure from governments and stakeholders to adopt sustainable strategies and achieve a triple bottom line. It is recognized as playing a strategic role in facilitating the implementation of such strategies. By integrating GHRM practices, organizations can formulate sustainable strategies and promote social, environmental, and economic benefits.

The insights on decision-making in the design of HR architectures enhance employees' abilities, and motivation, and foster a supportive culture. Creating such an environment enables employees to exhibit behaviour that aligns with the organization's strategic goals. The comprehensive information presented in the paper serves as a valuable resource for future research. It offers an overview of influential authors, important papers, significant journals, and potential research questions in the field of GHRM. This information can guide researchers in exploring new avenues and advancing the knowledge base of GHRM.

The study is limited to the Scopus database only and of 20 years. Again, the problem was of various researchers with the same name. Third, there is a lack of studies focusing on the theoretical frameworks underlying GHRM. Fourth, the role of line managers in GHRM has not been extensively explained. Finally, more qualitative studies and more techniques for the implementation of GHRM should have been explored.

However, there is potential to extend the concept of GHRM to include other HR practices, such as employee relations and some soft aspects like employee protean career, employee wellness, employee engagement etc.

It is important to note that GHRM is still in its infancy, and making generalizations without sufficient evidence would not be appropriate. Based on the review and subsequent analysis, a few research areas are proposed: more theoretical frameworks such as stakeholder theory or the resource-based view are to be developed. Secondly, may identify the skills and competencies required by HR professionals and other functional areas managers, specifically line managers. Further, more dependent, independent, moderating variables, related to the current business world, organizations' work culture, strategy, policies, and practices may be considered, and finally, emphasised to be given in more qualitative research.

Moreover, GHRM plays a vital role in attracting and retaining environmentally conscious employees. By aligning the organization's values with those of prospective employees, GHRM helps build a strong employee-employer brand, making the organization a preferred choice for top talent in the industry. This, in turn, can lead to reduced recruitment costs and increased operational efficiency.