Green HRM as a Mediator: Strategic Management Accounting and Environmental Performance in the Jordanian Industry

Amid escalating global environmental pressures, this study examines how Strategic Management Accounting Practices (SMAPs) enhance environmental performance in Jordan’s industrial sector. Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) serves as a crucial mediator. Drawing on contingency theory, we propose that SMAPs—including environmental cost analysis and lifecycle budgeting—require complementary GHRM mechanisms to transform technical accounting data into sustainable outcomes. Data from 180 professionals across 53 manufacturing firms, analysed via Smart PLS-SEM, reveal that GHRM fully mediates the relationship between SMAPs and environmental performance. Green policy alignment emerged as the most influential mediator, while diminishing returns in green adaptability and employee involvement at lower levels of SMAP adoption suggest threshold effects. This study advances contingency theory by empirically validating GHRM’s role as a sociotechnical bridge between accounting systems and ecological outcomes. For practitioners, the results necessitate the integration of SMAPs with targeted HR interventions, such as sustainability-linked training and cross-functional green teams. This alignment enhances compliance and operational efficiency for Jordan—a water-scarce economy facing stringent environmental regulations. While the use of cross-sectional data and perceptual measures limits causal claims, this research provides a validated framework for emerging economies. Future studies should employ longitudinal designs to assess GHRM’s evolving impact during sustainability transitions and explore cultural moderators in Arab collectivist contexts. Overall, this work bridges environmental accounting and HRM scholarship, demonstrating that technical systems require human-centric mechanisms to operationalise sustainability.