Greening the airline pilot: HRM and the green performance of airlines in the UK

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential for human resource management (HRM) to influence the green performance of airlines. The focus is on the management of airline pilots, in particular, who have unparalleled opportunities to affect green performance through their control of the machines that directly impact the industry's carbon footprint. As a result it is vital that the HR function finds ways to engage them in the greening of the organization and works to reduce the triggers to actions that have the potential to sabotage the green aims of the airline industry. To this end, the paper discusses first the indirect effects of HRM in terms of its influence on employee job satisfaction, commitment and involvement in the airline, which can reduce the propensity of pilots to engage in actions detrimental to the green performance of the airline. Second, it explores the nature and purpose of direct green HRM initiatives and airline pilot responses to these. It concludes that the role HR managers can play via their management of the employment relationship on the green performance of airlines in the UK is crucial but that they face considerable challenges.