Green HR Practices Linked to Better Well-Being in Dark Stores

A study of 400 employees working for five major dark-store supply chains found that green human resource management practices were associated with higher employee well-being, with much of the statistical relationship linked to “Emotional Wage,” a term used for psychosocial rewards at work. Researchers analyzed responses from employees representing Blinkit, BigBasket, Swiggy Instamart, DMart Ready and Zepto, reporting that green HR practices had positive relationships with both Emotional Wage and employee well-being.

The work focused on rapidly expanding, high-intensity fulfillment operations in which employee well-being has become a concern for workforce performance and organizational resilience. According to the accepted research article, the study examined whether environmentally oriented HR practices predict employee well-being and whether Emotional Wage helps explain that relationship. The analysis used descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, multiple regression, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and mediation analysis to evaluate a model connecting green HR management, Emotional Wage and employee well-being.

The measurement model showed satisfactory validity and reliability, including a Comparative Fit Index of 0.93 and a Root Mean Square Error of Approximation of 0.056. Green Human Resource Management had a statistically significant relationship with Emotional Wage, with a standardized coefficient of β = 0.470, and with employee well-being, at β = 0.333. Emotional Wage was itself positively associated with well-being, with β = 0.472. The researchers reported a partial mediation effect, with an indirect standardized coefficient of β = 0.41, indicating that the proposed psychosocial-reward mechanism accounted for part, but not all, of the relationship between green HR practices and employee well-being.

These results support the proposition that sustainability-oriented HR practices can travel beyond environmental objectives and be connected with employees’ experiences at work. The findings do not, by themselves, establish that the policies caused improvements in well-being: the reported evidence comes from an analysis of employee perceptions and statistical relationships rather than a randomized intervention. The accessible article supplied for this report is an early peer-reviewed version that the publisher says remains subject to further editorial changes before replacement by the final Version of Record.

Within the five dark-store supply chains studied, positive perceptions of green HR practices and Emotional Wage formed the core of the reported results. The authors interpret Emotional Wage as a key explanatory mechanism connecting environmentally responsible HR practices with employee well-being, engagement and organizational effectiveness in fulfillment operations. More broadly, the study suggests that organizations seeking to make sustainability part of employee management may also consider how such practices are perceived by the people doing the work. That interpretation remains tied to the study’s reported model, sample and stated limitations, and it should not be read as evidence of a causal effect outside the dark-store workplaces examined.

Subject of Research: Relationships among green HR management, psychosocial rewards and employee well-being in dark-store supply chains

Article Title: Green human resource management and Emotional Wage as predictors of Employee Well-Being in dark-store supply chains

Article References: Bhoi, H., Bhalla, P., Kumari, R., Mridul, M., Zehra, S., Soliman, K., & Durairaj, S. (2026). Green human resource management and Emotional Wage as predictors of Employee Well-Being in dark-store supply chains. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04741-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04741-1

Keywords: green human resource management, employee well-being, emotional wage, dark stores, supply chains, sustainable workplaces, mediation analysis, structural equation modeling, workforce performance, psychosocial rewards, Green, human