Vol.:(0123456789) SN Bus Econ (2021) 1:153 https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-021-00154-6 ORIGINAL ARTICLE The role of green HRM in driving a frm’s green competitive advantage: the mediating role of green organizational identity Paul Kivinda Muisyo 1  · Su Qin 1,2,3  · Thu Hau Ho 4 Received: 17 January 2021 / Accepted: 22 September 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Abstract Despite the signifcant contribution made by green human resource management (GHRM) towards the frm’s green performance, scholars have not given adequate attention to how GHRM contributes to the green competitiveness of a frm. This sit- uation, therefore, presents a major gap for scholars in green management to fll. We draw on the Ability Motivation Opportunity theory to examine how GHRM drives GCA in a frm. Grounded on this theory, we develop a hypothetical model that is tested by survey data collected from the Chinese manufacturing sector. The results reveal that frms can capitalize on GHRM to build a green competitive advantage (GCA). The fndings further illuminate the necessary conditions of green organi- zational identity (GOI) and green leadership (GL). We believe that the utility and originality of this paper provides a nuanced understanding of how frms can derive GCA from GHRM. Keywords Green human resource management · Green organizational identity · Green leadership · Green competitive advantage Introduction The available literature on green management indicates that frms with outstanding green policies enjoy the benefts of high sales volume, branding recognition (Yang et al. 2011), and good employee performance (Salem et al. 2012; Muisyo and Qin * Paul Kivinda Muisyo muisyo09@gmail.com 1 Present Address: School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China 2 State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi’an, China 3 The Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Process Control and Efciency Engineering, Xi’an, China 4 School of Management, Northwest University, Xi’an, China