Sustainable development and human resource management. A science mapping approach

Abstract

This manuscript presents a systematic review of "sustainable human resource man-agement"(HRM), highlighting its major themes and the evolution and tendenciesobserved in this field. It contributes to the development of this relatively new topic,offering a critical evaluation and identifying the highest impact research strands.The Web of Science database returned 111 documents spanning the period 1997-2018, and a conceptual science mapping analysis based on co-word bibliographic net-works was developed, using SciMAT as an analytical tool. The motor themes (welldeveloped and important for the structure of the discipline) in the field of sustainableHRM areenvironmental management,socially responsible HRM, andturnover.Employeeengagementis a specialised theme (well developed but less important for the struc-ture of the research field),human resource practicesis a basic or transversal theme(important for the discipline but not developed), andsustainable leadershipandenvi-ronmental performanceare emerging themes (both weakly developed and marginalto the field).