Human Capital Pathways to Sustainability: How Green Talent, Mindfulness, and Leadership Cocreate Sustainable Innovation

ABSTRACT

Sustainable innovation is central to firm competitiveness, yet the mechanisms through which green human resource practices generate such outcomes remain underexplored. This study examines how green recruitment and selection drives sustainable innovation through green training and development and green mindfulness, while considering the boundary roles of green leadership and green knowledge sharing. Grounded in Human Capital Theory and the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity framework, the study conceptualizes sustainable innovation as the outcome of capability development and cognitive activation. A quantitative, three‐wave time‐lagged design was employed. Data were collected from 842 employees across mining, manufacturing, construction, and hospitality sectors. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) with bootstrapping was used to test the moderated serial mediation model. The findings revealed that green recruitment and selection significantly enhances sustainable innovation both directly and indirectly through green training and development and green mindfulness. A significant sequential mediation confirms that sustainable innovation emerges through staged capability and cognitive processes. Green leadership strengthens the recruitment–training and recruitment–innovation links, while green knowledge sharing enhances the training–mindfulness relationship. The study contributes to the intellectual capital literature by framing green human capital as a dynamic, process‐driven asset. It integrates capability development, cognition, and contextual enablers into a unified model, offering a clearer explanation of how sustainability‐oriented HR investments translate into innovation outcomes.