Sustainable HRM in Educational Institutions: The Association Between Perceived Consistency and Lower Emotional Exhaustion

Aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this study examines an organizational process relevant to Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) by investigating the association between perceived HRM system consistency and educator emotional exhaustion. Addressing the critical knowledge gap regarding organizational-level determinants of teacher well-being and moving beyond traditional ‘instrumentalist’ models that often prioritize institutional performance at the expense of human health, this study examines the association between perceived consistency (the stability and compatibility of organizational signals) and lower educator emotional exhaustion. Utilizing a cross-sectional survey of 254 educators in Lebanon (2024–2025), a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed to test the relationships between workload, HRM consistency, and burnout. Results indicate that while workload is positively associated with the health impairment process (β = 0.48, p < 0.001), perceived HRM consistency was associated with lower emotional exhaustion (β = −0.28, p < 0.001). Crucially, a significant negative interaction effect (β = −0.19, p < 0.001) was observed, demonstrating that perceived consistency of the HRM system is associated with an attenuation of the positive relationship between workload and emotional exhaustion. The final moderated model explained 43% of the variance in emotional exhaustion. These findings suggest that perceived HRM system consistency may represent an organizational characteristic of interest within Sustainable HRM research, highlighting the broader, indirect relevance of these findings for discussions surrounding SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 8 (Decent Work).