Green HRM, employee participation, green internal branding, and innovative behavior in Chinese SMEs

Drawing on the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) framework, this study investigates the indirect impact of green human resource management (GHRM) on employees’ in-role and extra-role green innovative behavior through green internal branding. It also assesses the conditional impact of employee participation on the relationship between GHRM and green internal branding. Using a cross-sectional approach, data were collected from 197 employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The empirical evidence supports the mediating role of green internal branding in the relationship between GHRM and both types of green innovative behavior. The study further concludes that the positive relationship between GHRM and green internal branding intensifies with higher levels of employee participation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the integrated roles of GHRM, employee participation, and green internal branding in fostering employee green innovative behavior. Limitations and practical implications are elaborated at the end of the paper. This project was supported by Philosophical and Social Science Planning Project of Shanxi Province (Project no. 2025QN299) and Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province (Project no. 202203021211179).

Business School, Shanxi Technology and Business University, Shanxi, China School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia This study was approved by the Shanxi Technology and Business University Research Ethics Committee (Ref: SXTBULL2025004) and adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki. The authors declare no competing interests. Participants were briefed on their rights and the confidentiality of their data through written information sheets.

The informed written consent was obtained from all subjects prior to data collection. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. In your firm, environmental objectives are set for all employees.

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