Sustainable Human Resource Training: A study of Scale Development and Validation

In the contemporary world, organizations are expected to introduce human resource management (HRM) practices which foster organizational sustainable development. The latter is based on the integration of environmental, social, and economic goals. Moreover, HRM practices should contribute to the common good. HR training has been found as a means to transfer sustainability theory into practice. However, to be called sustainable, HR training should not only promote employees’ sustainability-oriented behaviours but also be internally sustainable and contribute to common good. Such an approach has not been represented in previous research. Therefore, this study aims to develop a sustainable HR training construct. An exploratory sequential mixed method approach was adopted to develop and validate the measurement scale of sustainable HR training. Data were collected from employees working in different industries of Poland. This study established the second-order construct of sustainable HR training, which comprises equal training opportunities, long-term oriented training, integrated approach to training, focus on well-being, environmental-oriented training, and team building as its first-order dimensions. It also confirmed the nomological validity of the newly developed scale based on its relationship with a company’s sustainable performance. The current research enriched the sustainable HRM literature by offering a high-order sustainable HR training construct. Practitioners and policy makers may employ the designed scale in spurring HR training practices along with enhancing their sustainable performance.