Human resource management and environment management systems: an empirical study

Abstract

The present study focuses on understanding and measuring the effect that the implementation of an ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) has on human resource (HR) management in a company. The paper proposes and applies a measurement instrument to test the hypotheses derived from the theoretical framework established by Daily & Huang (2001) as well as from the ISO 14001 standards. Data collection was carried out by mailing a survey to the person responsible for environmental affairs of businesses with an ISO 14001 EMS implemented, or in the advanced stages of being implemented, in one autonomous region of Spain. Both reliability analysis and factor analysis, if necessary, were performed for the scales used. The results obtained indicate that the HR factors act as predicted by the hypotheses, except in the case of rewards. Finally, the present study provides empirical evidence in order to test and extend the model proposed by Daily & Huang.