Green human resource management (GHRM) has emerged as an essential strategy for achieving environmental sustainability within organizations. However, there remains a significant gap in understanding its direct impact on sustainable performance. This study seeks to address these gaps by investigating the relationship between GHRM and sustainable performance, with a focus on the mediating role of green innovation and the moderating influence of transformational leadership. A cross-sectional study was conducted among Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to explore the interrelationships between green HRM, green process and product innovation, sustainability, and the role of sustainable leadership. The study’s findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between green HRM practices and sustainability, encompassing environmental, economic, and social aspects. The findings suggest that management support for environmental initiatives is a critical factor in enhancing the effectiveness and spread of green innovations, emphasizing the importance of GHM in the broader context of organizational change and sustainability. In addition, the study underscores the critical role of transformative leadership in fostering sustainable practices, particularly the significant moderator role of responsible leadership in driving sustainable business practices. In summary, this study provides a roadmap for businesses, particularly SMEs, to leverage HGRM as a strategic tool in their pursuit of sustainability.

This study examines the adoption and institutionalization of Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM) in Malaysian SMEs, focusing on the influence of Perceived Organizational Green Readiness (POG) and Perceived External Green Readiness (PEG) on the institutionalization of Green HRM (ING). Utilizing structural equation modeling from a sample of 425 respondents for Malaysian SMEs, the research reveals that POG and PEG significantly predict the Initial adoption of Green HRM (IAG), which mediates their impact on ING. This study also identifies a moderating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the relationship between IAG and ING. Theoretical contributions extend stakeholder theory, the E-Commerce Adoption Model, the Organizational Readiness to Change (ORC) framework, and CSR theory to the Green HRM context. The findings provide practical insights for SMEs on aligning Green HRM with organizational strategies and external factors for effective institutionalization. This research contributes to the understanding of Green HRM processes, emphasizing the importance of initial adoption and the intricate role of CSR in sustainable business practices.

Purpose: Much has been written about the importance of external integration for the integrity of food products. To achieve food integrity, all actors along the supply chain have to be fully integrated and comply with an assurance system or process. The more complex the supply chain operations are, the greater will be the need for integration. This research paper investigates the impact of external integration on compliance with halal standards, as an example of product integrity within the food industry.Design/methodology/approach: A survey of 1,000 food manufacturers was conducted. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the effect of external integration on compliance with halal standards.Findings: The results showed that there were links between halal assurance system and external integration. Nevertheless, it was discovered that only customer integration mediated the relationship between the halal assurance system and product quality and production cost.Practical implications: The practical implications of the findings extend to managers in the food industry who might pursue supply chain integration as a structure to achieve excellence. The findings suggested that the deployment of a halal assurance system has a positive effect on operational performance. Furthermore, the results show that managers who wish to implement the halal assurance system should carefully invest in an external integration strategy, depending upon the operational performance improvement intended.Originality/value: This research is one of the first studies to investigate the effects of external integration on halal food in general and is the first empirical investigation of the effect of safeguarding halal integrity on operational performance.

Entrepreneurship has become a key part of economies, and having an entrepreneurial orientation for SMEs is essential for success. EO and dimensions may differ in different cultures and different countries, thus a cross-cultural validation is suggested by the existing literature, which is lacking Malaysian perspectives. The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and business performances of Malay-based SMEs in Malaysia and used the Partial Least Square (PLS) approach for data analysis. The research model for this study was drawn from the literature on entrepreneurship. This study identified five entrepreneurial orientations and tested hypotheses on which EO has a significant influence on business performance with empirical data from a sample of 407 Malay-based SMEs in Malaysia. The PLS regression analysis shows that risk-taking, proactiveness, innovativeness, and achievement factors are the significant elements of entrepreneurship orientation. Nevertheless, one independent variable, i.e., autonomy does not exhibit any relationship. This study offers a significant contribution to the current literature by empirically analyzing the link between the subcomponent of EO and business performance, specifically in the Malaysian SME sector, which has not been explored comprehensively. The paper’s interesting findings can serve to remind entrepreneurs that they cannot neglect the element of EO in their activities, particularly the success of the business. The research could be useful for policymakers to obtain some ideas and develop policies to help SMEs in Malaysia. Specifically, to enhance the performance in the SMEs sectors, the government should enforce easy to use, consistent, and standardized policies in all SMEs sectors and for all other stakeholders in boosting these sectors.

Higher education service quality and performance in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is critical for developing human capital for economic survival; however, the effects of service quality on organisational performance are still unclear. Furthermore, neglecting employee soft factors and ignoring higher education-specific models have hindered efforts to develop a comprehensive model for service quality excellence in order to improve higher education performance for organisations. This study aims to assess higher education service quality based on a modified higher education performance (modified HEdPERF) model, as well as consideration of the mediating effects of soft factors (i.e., job satisfaction and organisational commitment) in Malaysian polytechnic institutions. Based on random sampling, 214 department heads from 33 polytechnic institutes in Malaysia participated in this study. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and were analysed using AMOS. The results uncover that service quality significantly affects job satisfaction, thus positively affecting organisational commitment, which enhances organisational performance sustainability. The findings also reveal that job satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between service quality and organisational commitment. Similarly, organisational commitment fully mediates the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational performance sustainability. The results have important implications for enhancing organisational performance sustainability in a TVET context when implementing the modified HEdPERF service quality model with simultaneous attention paid towards employee soft factors.