IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i22p15841-d1278019.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Crucial Role of Green Soft Skills and Leadership for Sustainability: A Case Study of an Italian Small and Medium Enterprise Operating in the Food Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Caterina Farao

    (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Via Monte Generoso, 71, 21100 Varese, Italy)

  • Chiara Bernuzzi

    (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Via Monte Generoso, 71, 21100 Varese, Italy)

  • Chiara Ronchetti

    (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Via Monte Generoso, 71, 21100 Varese, Italy)

Abstract

Increasing concerns about the human impact on the environment are leading to new challenges for companies and their employees. Specifically, the food industry is facing the need to provide sustainable services, requiring a specialized and skilled workforce. This article presents a case study of an Italian sustainable Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) operating in the food sector in order to determine the drivers of working for this company, the key skills needed, and the Green Human Resource Management practices adopted. A total of 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees and thematically analyzed. The findings showed that soft skills were perceived as more relevant than hard skills, although the food sector is characterized by high technical complexity and subjected to several national and international regulations. Moreover, the crucial role of organizational culture in determining the relevance of soft skills within the company and in fostering the implementation of the holacracy organizational management method emerged. Finally, by detecting the relevance recognized to values and soft skills during the recruitment and selection process, our findings provided some evidence of Green Human Resource Management in sustainable SMEs.

Suggested Citation

  • Caterina Farao & Chiara Bernuzzi & Chiara Ronchetti, 2023. "The Crucial Role of Green Soft Skills and Leadership for Sustainability: A Case Study of an Italian Small and Medium Enterprise Operating in the Food Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-25, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15841-:d:1278019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15841/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15841/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Hsun Chang & Shu-Ling Yeh & Hsin-I Cheng, 2015. "Green shared vision and green creativity: the mediation roles of green mindfulness and green self-efficacy," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 1169-1184, May.
    2. Marguerite Schneider, 2002. "A Stakeholder Model of Organizational Leadership," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(2), pages 209-220, April.
    3. Noor Ullah Khan & Haoqiang Wei & Guiling Yue & Nabila Nazir & Noor Raihani Zainol, 2021. "Exploring Themes of Sustainable Practices in Manufacturing Industry: Using Thematic Networks Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-26, September.
    4. Simona Margheritti & Andrea Gragnano & Raffaella Villa & Michele Invernizzi & Marco Ghetti & Massimo Miglioretti, 2023. "Being an Emotional Business Leader in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Importance of Emotions during a Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Luu Trong Tuan, 2021. "Effects of environmentally-specific servant leadership on green performance via green climate and green crafting," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 925-953, September.
    6. Michael Maloni & Michael Brown, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility in the Supply Chain: An Application in the Food Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 68(1), pages 35-52, September.
    7. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Hsun Chang, 2013. "The Determinants of Green Product Development Performance: Green Dynamic Capabilities, Green Transformational Leadership, and Green Creativity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 107-119, August.
    8. Pascal Paillé & Yang Chen & Olivier Boiral & Jiafei Jin, 2014. "The Impact of Human Resource Management on Environmental Performance: An Employee-Level Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 451-466, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bogdan Fleacă & Gheorghe Militaru & Elena Fleacă, 2024. "Reinforcement of Workforce Training Programs—Insights from Pilot Testing Process to Enhance Greening Practices in Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-19, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tai-Wei Chang & Fei-Fan Chen & Hua-Dong Luan & Yu-Shan Chen, 2019. "Effect of Green Organizational Identity, Green Shared Vision, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior for the Environment on Green Product Development Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Tai-Wei Chang, 2020. "Corporate Sustainable Development Strategy: Effect of Green Shared Vision on Organization Members’ Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih & Ahmed Hasanein & Ibrahim Elshaer, 2020. "Influences of Green Human Resources Management on Environmental Performance in Small Lodging Enterprises: The Role of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Sheikh Farhan Ashraf & Cai Li & Muhammad Umair Wattoo & Majid Murad & Babak Mahmood, 2024. "Green horizons: Unleashing green innovation through green business strategies and competencies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4233-4251, July.
    5. Saskia Crucke & Marie Servaes & Tom Kluijtmans & Shana Mertens & Eveline Schollaert, 2022. "Linking environmentally‐specific transformational leadership and employees' green advocacy: The influence of leadership integrity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(2), pages 406-420, March.
    6. Mou Lin & Azura Abdullah Effendi & Qaisar Iqbal, 2022. "The Mechanism Underlying the Sustainable Performance of Transformational Leadership: Organizational Identification as Moderator," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.
    7. Hien Vo Van & Tu Thanh Hoai & Nha Nguyen Minh & Nguyen Phong Nguyen, 2023. "Green Transformational Leadership and Green Mindfulness as Contributors to Green Innovation and Environmental Performance: Evidence From Manufacturing Firms in Vietnam," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, August.
    8. Mercedes Úbeda‐García & Bartolome Marco‐Lajara & Patrocinio C. Zaragoza‐Sáez & Encarnación Manresa‐Marhuenda & Esther Poveda‐Pareja, 2022. "Green ambidexterity and environmental performance: The role of green human resources," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 32-45, January.
    9. Chunyan Chen & Anmol Rasheed & Arslan Ayub, 2023. "Does Green Mindfulness Promote Green Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, March.
    10. Aline Elias & Karin Sanders & Jing Hu, 2023. "The Sustainable Human Resource Practices and Employee Outcomes Link: An HR Process Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-18, June.
    11. Yu‐Shan Chen & Shu‐Hsien Lin & Chun‐Yu Lin & Shu‐Tzu Hung & Chih‐Wei Chang & Ching‐Wen Huang, 2020. "Improving green product development performance from green vision and organizational culture perspectives," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 222-231, January.
    12. Silu Chen & Wanxing Jiang & Xin Li & Han Gao, 2021. "Effect of Employees’ Perceived Green HRM on Their Workplace Green Behaviors in Oil and Mining Industries: Based on Cognitive-Affective System Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-16, April.
    13. Tu Thanh Hoai & Nha Nguyen Minh & Hien Vo Van & Nguyen Phong Nguyen, 2023. "Accounting going green: The move toward environmental sustainability in Vietnamese manufacturing firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1928-1941, July.
    14. Fahad Kamal Alsheref & Hazem Ahmed Khairy & Omar Alsetoohy & Osman Elsawy & Sameh Fayyad & Mahmoud Salama & Bassam Samir Al-Romeedy & Shimaa Abo Elsoad Mohamed Soliman, 2024. "Catalyzing Green Identity and Sustainable Advantage in Tourism and Hotel Businesses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-26, June.
    15. Jorge Alberto Esponda Perez & Faisal Ejaz & Sarmad Ejaz, 2023. "Green Transformational Leadership, GHRM, and Proenvironmental Behavior: An Effectual Drive to Environmental Performances of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Tai-Wei Chang & Kuo-Hsuan Wang & Yi-Hsiung Lin, 2020. "Corporate Sustainability: It’s Mine! Effect of Green Product Psychological Ownership on the Environmental Behavior and Performance of Employees," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    17. Jianfeng Jia & Huanxin Liu & Tachia Chin & Dongqing Hu, 2018. "The Continuous Mediating Effects of GHRM on Employees’ Green Passion via Transformational Leadership and Green Creativity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.
    18. Andrea Chiarini & Surajit Bag, 2024. "Using green human resource management practices to achieve green performance: Evidence from Italian manufacturing context," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4694-4707, July.
    19. Fuqiang Zhao & Manita Kusi & Yun Chen & Wei Hu & Fawad Ahmed & Dinesh Sukamani, 2021. "Influencing Mechanism of Green Human Resource Management and Corporate Social Responsibility on Organizational Sustainable Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    20. Naveed Ahmad Faraz & Fawad Ahmed & Ma Ying & Sultan Adal Mehmood, 2021. "The interplay of green servant leadership, self‐efficacy, and intrinsic motivation in predicting employees’ pro‐environmental behavior," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1171-1184, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15841-:d:1278019. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.