The Contingency Effects of Five Sustainable Development Goals (Big Five SDGs) : A Cross-National Study of Socially Responsible HRM and Well-Being

The emergence of the global sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the growing awareness of the economic, environmental, and social benefits of committing to sustainable development have led many organizations to consider how they can effectively contribute to this agenda. Drawing on institutional theory, this study seeks to advance this goal by examining in a multinational context how a socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM) approach might support employees' well-being and whether a country's performance in achieving the five SDGs impacts this relationship. The results of multilevel analyses using data from 14,502 employees in 54 countries supported our hypotheses that SR-HRM positively influences both dimensions of employees' well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic). Furthermore, the moderating effects of national-level SDG achievement suggest that levels of SDG achievement strengthened the association between SR-HRM and employees' well-being. Our findings support institutional theory by showing that organizations and their HRM systems are shaped by their broader institutional environment. In order to modify HRM systems, the findings support an outside-in perspective in HRM and the role of formal instructions and regulations, such as the SDGs.