The Effect of Green Human Resource Management on Environmental Performance Through the Serial Mediation of Green Organizational Culture and Employee Environmental Commitment

Abstract

Environmental performance in the national railway transportation sector remains a pressing concern, as green human resource policy has not consistently translated into measurable environmental outcomes. This study examines the effect of Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM) on Environmental Performance, both directly and through the serial mediation of Green Organizational Culture and Employee Environmental Commitment, among permanent employees of PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) Operational Area 9 Jember. An explanatory quantitative design was employed, with data collected from 172 permanent employees selected through Proportionate Quota Sampling combined with Accidental Sampling. Data were gathered using a Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed with Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4.0. The results show that Green HRM has a significant positive effect on Green Organizational Culture (β = 0.710) and Employee Environmental Commitment (β = 0.170), while its direct effect on Environmental Performance is not significant (p = 0.120). Both Green Organizational Culture and Employee Environmental Commitment significantly and positively affect Environmental Performance. Single mediation through either variable is not significant, whereas the serial mediation path from Green HRM through Green Organizational Culture and Employee Environmental Commitment to Environmental Performance is significant (β = 0.203; p = 0.009). These findings indicate that environmental performance improves not from a direct effect of green HR policy, but through a gradual process in which organizational culture is formed first and subsequently shapes individual environmental commitment. Organizations in similarly bureaucratic, operationally centralized sectors may need to prioritize culture-building and commitment-formation programs alongside formal green HR policy to achieve measurable environmental gains.