Green Human Resource Management and Environmentally Friendly Behavior of Employees in Iraq's Ministry of Environment
Purpose: This study examines how Green Human Resource Management (GHRM), expressed through green recruitment, green training, green performance appraisal, and green rewards, relates to and influences the environmentally friendly behavior of employees at the Ministry of Environment in Baghdad, Iraq.
Methodology: A descriptive analytical design was used. A questionnaire built on a five point Likert scale was distributed electronically to a convenience sample of 110 employees, and 98 questionnaires were returned. Validity was checked with Pearson item correlations, reliability with Cronbach's alpha, and the hypotheses were tested with Pearson correlation and simple linear regression in SPSS version 27.
Results: All four GHRM dimensions were rated highly, with green performance appraisal ranked first. GHRM correlated strongly and positively with environmentally friendly behavior (r=0.673) and had a significant effect on it (B=0.752, F=77.079, R²=0.453). Green training and green rewards were the strongest individual dimensions.
Conclusions: Green HR practices, particularly training and rewards, give the ministry a practical way to steer employees toward greener behavior at work.
Limitations: The study relied on a single public organization, a small convenience sample, cross sectional self reported data, and bivariate analysis.
Contributions: The study adds evidence from an Iraqi public sector setting, where GHRM research is still scarce, and offers managers concrete steps such as environmentally oriented job descriptions and incentives for employees who propose ways to reduce waste.