Impact of Human Governance on Corporate Sustainability in the Malaysian Construction Industry: the Mediating Role of Training and Development

Tan, Xing Yi (2020) Impact of Human Governance on Corporate Sustainability in the Malaysian Construction Industry: the Mediating Role of Training and Development. Masters thesis, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

In the past few decades, corporate sustainability has increasingly become important for the business community, and this is particularly true of the Malaysian construction industry which has a huge impact on the nation’s environment, society as well as economic development. To influence corporate sustainable actions, focusing on the behaviour of internal stakeholders should be the first step. In essence, a greater scrutiny on the human facet of governance-related issues is needed. However, past studies have not accentuated the roles of human governance and human resource strategies in organisational sustainability achievement. This research, therefore, addresses this shortcoming by adopting a S-O-R model, stewardship theory and transformational leadership theory, extended with three elements of human governance (which include transformational leadership, integrity and collectivism) and a human resource practice (primarily focusing on training and development) as determinants of corporate sustainability. Specifically, this research presents the influence of human governance on corporate sustainability incorporation in the Malaysian construction industry through the mediating role of training and development by the human resource management (“HRM”). The main objectives of this research is to investigate (1) the influences of training and development and elements of human governance on corporate sustainability in construction firms; and (2) the impact of human governance elements on training and development. The secondary objective of this research is to examine the mediating role of training and development on the relationships between the elements of human governance and corporate sustainability. A quantitative research design with cross-sectional study was utilised and the online questionnaire survey was adopted. Based on judgement and snowball sampling techniques, a sample of 283 employees (primary data) from the Malaysian construction industry was collected. The findings gathered were analysed using both Statistical Package for Social Sciences (“SPSS”) and SmartPLS software. The research findings evinced the significant positive influences of training and development and the elements of human governance on corporate sustainability in the Malaysian construction industry. This research also corroborated that, out of the three elements of human governance, both transformational leadership and integrity (but not collectivism) have significant positive impact on training and development. This research, moreover, concluded that training and development partially mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and corporate sustainability, as well as the relationship between integrity and corporate sustainability. However, results found that training and development does not mediate the relationship between collectivism and corporate sustainability. The research contributes an unabridged perspective on corporate sustainability by providing a deeper understanding of how training and development intervenes the relationship between human governance and corporate sustainability. From a practical perspective, the research findings have highlighted the importance of employers to revisit their policies in the workplace, and the strategic role of HRM to customise employees’ training and development that supports human governance and corporate sustainability. Keywords: Collectivism; Corporate Sustainability; Integrity; Training and Development; Transformational Leadership